The Sword Is Mightier Than The Card
by plaguegriped
Summary: It started with a simple trip to a simple town. Now the young man Guts must face the darkest parts of humanity's psyche. Thankfully, he is not alone in his battle. But can he see that before he himself is consumed with the darkness brewing in his own mind?
1. Welcome to Inaba: The Local Populace

'_Where am I?_'

There was blue. So much blue. The blue in the vehicle that the large man stood in drowned out any hope for other colors to try to grab attention away. But how did he get there? And more importantly, **where** was there?

It was definitely a small room, more of a small rectangular shaped compartment with windows lining the side that would show nothing but a **blue** fog outside. On his left was a large black minibar, the various drinks illuminated by a bright blue light. To his right was a large blue couch, the upholstery looking of extremely high value. On the right end of the same couch laid a medium-sized, black container that was used to hold, on top of it, two bottles of wine and two glasses, one looking wide and short, and the other slim and tall. The curtains lining the windows wrapped across the ceiling and continued the, now horribly annoying, trend of blue. But what caught the man's attention most was the L-shaped couch directly in front of him, wrapping around a small blue table.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," the small impish man in front of him said, with his impossibly large nose and pointed ears, both made somewhat funny by the extravagant suit he was wearing. Both of his arms rested atop the cane he had, it seemingly holding up the rest of his body, though he was seated on the couch. His bloodshot eyes made him look as though he never slept, or never even **closed** his eyes to begin with, "Ah... It seems that we have a guest with an intriguing destiny..." The small man gave a small, but hearty, chuckle at his last statement. "My name is Igor... I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

The man noticed that the imp, or Igor apparently, never seemed to lose that strange calm edge to his voice that was slowly worming its way past the shock and confusion the man had. He found himself beginning to slowly lower the guard he never even knew he had raised, the adrenaline of the situation that outright blinded him now wavering off. He found himself beginning to get interested in what the imp had to say.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter..." the imp had said, once again in that slow methodical tone he seemed to enjoy so much, "It is a room that only those who are bound by 'contract' may enter..."

A contract? What the hell was he talking about? Why couldn't the man find his voice and figure out what was going on?

"It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future."

Fate? What fate? He knew better than to believe any of that 'destiny' bullshit, so listening to this old man beginning to prattle on about fate was beginning to give him a migraine. Still, he at least deserved some context about what he was spouting.

"Now then... Why don't you introduce yourself...?" the imp asked curiously, waving his hand towards the man.

"I'm... I'm Guts," the man answered. However, he found that he wasn't too sure if he was correct. He felt as though he was on autopilot, unable to really think about what he was doing before he did it. This lead to many more questions blowing up in his head, too many to even think of a specific example as one would interrupt the other before he could mentally grab it.

"Hm... I see." The imp himself sounded as though he was not too sure about Guts' answer. "Now, let's take a look into your future, shall we?" The man placed his hand on top of table in front of him. The hand began to emit a small, bright glow before fading off. The imp placed his hand back on his cane and asked, "Do you believe in fortune-telling?"

Guts was about to say 'no' and demand to know what the hell was going on here, but he found that he could not get his vocal chords to work. It felt as though he was turned into a statue, forced to watch the scene with the imp play out while remaining completely still.

"Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different..." the imp said as though he were a teacher and talking to a curious student. The imp waved his hand across the table, summoning seven cards that formed into a hexagon with the last one sitting in the middle. He gave a small chuckle once more and continued his speech, "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?"

At this point, Guts was at his limit with the old man. He wanted to know where he was and what the fuck was going on! All he had for answers was this crazy old man ranting about destiny and fortune-telling!

Suddenly, the old man flipped a card over, showing a tower struck with lighting.

"Hm... The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems that a terrible catastrophe is imminent," the imp did not seem worried by this. Instead, he seemed almost curious. "The card indicating the future beyond that is..." he flips another card, showing a crescent moon, "The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents 'hesitation' and 'mystery'... Very interesting indeed." The imp looked as though he never even registered Guts' presence, too focused looking at the two cards that he had just explained. That is, until his eyes shot back to Guts and he once again spoke, "It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you. In the coming days, you will enter a contract of some sort, after which you will return here," the old man gave a slight wave of his hand to emphasize the room they were in, "The coming year is a turning point in your destiny... If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost."

Guts could not believe what he was hearing, what mystery? What misfortune? What **destiny**?

"My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen," the old man stated. He gave a wave across the table, vanishing the cards seemingly from existence, "Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you." The imp turned towards a young woman on the other end of the couch, "This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, like myself."

"My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you through your journey," the young woman said. Guts noticed her attire, a dark blue dress and yellow accessories. Her hair looked almost blonde, which somehow matched piercing golden eyes. Her lips were a dark red color, made by a thick lipstick. All around she was quite beautiful, only Guts did not exactly care for her aesthetics at the moment.

"We shall attend to the details another time." The imp spoke once more, tearing Guts' attention back to him, "Until then, farewell..."

Farewell? What the hell does that mean?

* * *

The televisions in the busy train station were playing some commercial about a bimbo in a bikini. Guts had no idea what it was talking about, he was more aware at the fact that he was now in the middle of a busy train station! What just happened? Wait. Where was he again? Guts looked around, he saw the various people boarding and dispatching from trains arriving to and leaving the station. He felt a heavy weight on his right arm that seemed to remind him of a large suitcase he did not remember packing.

'_Was I going somewhere? I can't seem to remember...'_

He turned his attention back to the televisions, listening to the news report about some unlucky asshole getting caught cheating on his wife with some announcer. What struck him odd was that while all around him no one seemed to be speaking English, he could understand it perfectly.

'_Wait. That's right! I **was** going somewhere. What was it called again?'_

Suddenly, the announcement for the arrival for the train to Yasoinaba was called. Guts found himself walking towards the platform where the train was coming to, still sorting out what was happening. It all felt like a giant blur, a big mess of events that he was trying to put back in order. The train finally arrived and he entered, accidentally bumping into a middle-aged man in a business suit.

"Hey, asshole! How about you watch where you're goin'?" the man said, annoyed at the fact that Guts just cut .02 seconds out of his day.

"What did you just say to me?" Guts said, getting up into the man's face. That was made hard by the fact that Guts towered over the man, who only made it to his shoulders. Guts finally noticed the sound of his own voice. It was gravely and deep, belonging more to some grizzled action hero than to himself.

"N-Nothing!" the man said almost out of fear, "Just givin' you a tip. Jeez. Kids these days need to learn when to listen to a man giving them some advice." The man then walked out of the train, though not before giving a scoff and mumbling something about 'his prime' and 'whooping some ass'.

Beyond that, the rest of the ride seemed outright dull. Guts found himself looking at the window and at the countryside, the fields and the small traditional buildings beginning to pop up more and more as the train reached closer to its destination. He finally manage to look himself over in the reflection shown from the window, seeing a large, muscular young man with dark black hair and eyes wearing what appeared to be a uniform of some kind, a mix of a white button-up shirt with a collared black jacket on top of it. He also wore dark dress pants along with black dress shoes. What got his attention most was the short horizontal scar that went along the bridge of his nose. It did not seem too bad, it only going the length of his nose and stopping before reaching anywhere else on his face, but he knew he wouldn't be winning any beauty contests anyway.

He begun to get more confused as he was trying to remember how he got to the train station. Why was he going to 'Yasoinaba' again? It must have been over something important.

Guts was then torn out of his building mental frustration by a buzzing in his left pocket. He raised his left hand to find out what it was. Until he noticed that his arm was replaced with a heavy iron prosthetic, reaching just below the elbow. One that looked as though he put a heavy gauntlet where his arm should have been. The hand that was there looked closed in a permanent fist, his attempts to mentally move his fingers proving so.

'_That's right. I'm a damned cripple._'

His memory of how and why he was at the train station returned as easily as remembering his own name. He was being sent to some backwater town for the next year due to his parents having to work overseas. Instead, he had the 'luxury' of staying with his uncle, Dojima, along with the cousin he knew nothing about. He could not remember why his hand was missing, but he felt as though he had always been like this, that this was the norm for him.

The trip itself would have been bad enough, except that he was not ethnically Japanese, him being adopted by a young married couple shortly after his parents' deaths, as they were close friends, when he was an infant. Guts did not really think that his race would be an actual issue, but he never trusted old towns in general. He thought they were too traditional. Too set about doing some dumb ass festival that only comes about every fifty years and so on and so forth. Still. At least he was lucky enough to fluently speak the language.

Guts resorted to using his right hand to fish the gray plastic device out. Using his thumb to flip the phone's top over, he saw that he had received a message from his uncle.

"_Meet us outside Yasoinaba station at 4pm._"

Alright. He had a plan for the day. Meet Dojima and set up for the next year.

Although he had remembered what was going on and what to do from there, he still felt that mental blur. Beyond what he could see and hear, he was having trouble focusing on specific things at once. The text on the phone itself seemed to only get blurrier and blurrier, all mashing together into a giant ball of black on the small blue screen. What the hell was going on? Why was he getting so woozy all of a sudden?

Suddenly. A wall of pain smashed into Guts. A horrible burning began to take over his brain; a slow, agonizing burn that felt like a hive of wasps were going nuts inside of his skull. He could hear voices that he did not recognize shouting out to him, though he could not understand them. They all sounded as though a thick static was interrupting them. The only thing he managed to decipher from any of it was one of the voices screaming in fear.

"_Guts!"_

"GAH!" Guts' hand flew to his head, trying to somehow keep his skull from exploding. The feeling was getting worse, almost as if some horrid worm was eating his brain from the inside out. The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was one of the voices going, "_You broke your promise..."_

* * *

Dojima was having a rough day. First, he was almost late getting home to take his daughter with him so she could meet her cousin at the train station when he picked him up. Second, he was running late **getting** to the station. At this point the kid might be wandering around town trying to find him. The last time Guts even saw him was when he was three. Guts... Man, his brother-in-law chose a weird name for his son. He lived up to the namesake though. The kid could pull himself through anything. They were all sure he was gonna die when... Ah, screw it. The last thing that Dojima needed was to remind himself how awkward the next year was going to be.

The car was dead silent as Dojima looked towards his daughter, Nanako, in the passenger seat. She was busy fiddling with her seat belt and looking towards the floor, a sharp contrast to how she usually is around her friends or with him at home.

"So... are you excited to meet your cousin?" Dojima inquired. He was not ashamed to admit that he was desperately trying to kill the silence that was suffocating the car, and seemingly making the ride longer than it should have been.

Nanako seemed shocked at her father's sudden interest into her anticipation for her cousin's visit. Being only seven made her not able to see her father's discomfort in the dead silence that had the ride under its heavy thumb. However, despite her father's sociable tone, her nerves made her respond with a small nod. Whether she herself thought it was genuine was unknown.

Her father gave a smile at her and tried his best to reassure her, "Don't worry. If he's not nice then I'll lock him in jail." He was hoping that she would see his joke, but even he was afraid of that being a possibility. Despite seeming happy when he was young, Dojima knew how hard Guts must have had it. Being all alone and him feeling responsible for... Ah! Damn it, he was doing it again.

"How long until we get to the train station?" Nanako asked, her first words ever since Dojima had picked her up from home that day. She sounded as if she was trying to be excited, but secretly holding back the fear she had.

"Oh, not long now." Dojima was happy for the distraction that Nanako had unwittingly provided.

_'Maybe the year won't be so bad?_'

* * *

Guts awoke as the train finally stopped. The announcement over the speaker indicated that he was at the Yasoinaba station.

'_Perfect._'

He guessed that the voices must have all been some weird dream he was having during the ride. As Guts walked through the quiet train station, the stark opposite from the last one he was in, he made his way to the entrance. When he stepped outside, he noticed the large number of traditional style buildings surrounding the streets in front of him.

"Hey! Over here!" Guts heard a voice call. His attention then shot towards a middle-aged man waving over towards him. What also shocked him was the little girl standing behind him. The man had short dark hair with stubble growing across his face. He was wearing a light grey button-up shirt with a red tie and dark pants, he was also carrying a jacket strung across his shoulder. The little girl was wearing a dark brown skirt with a white long-sleeved undershirt with a pink sleeveless dress over it. Guts noticed that the girl was clinging to the man's leg.

Right when Guts walked over to the two, the man introduced himself, "Well, you're more handsome in person than in your photo," the man cracked a smile at that, "Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you."

Looking after? What a way to make him feel like a little kid.

"Let's see... I was your mother's younger brother... and that about sums it up."

Guts tried his best to seem sociable as he extended his right hand for a handshake, "Good to see ya, I guess."

Dojima gave a chuckle as he accepted the handshake, "You probably don't remember, but we've met before. I changed your diapers, you know?"

Guts grit his teeth when he said that. He hoped that Dojima would not be that relative that loved telling embarrassing stories about when he was a stupid kid. Despite the friendly introduction, Guts could see the little girl cower behind Dojima and try to hide behind his leg.

Dojima gently pushed the little girl in front of him, "This here's my daughter. Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin."

The little girl said nothing besides a small attempt at a hello before hiding behind her father once more.

Dojima gave a small laugh at this, "What're you so shy for?"

Nanako gave him a slap across his back for embarrassing her, which Dojima responded with another chuckle.

Guts noticed how strange the scene was to him. It felt so... alien. As though this was the first time he had ever seen something like the interaction between Dojima and Nanako.

"Well then... Let's get going," Dojima announced, "My car's over there." He gave a point somewhere behind him.

As the three were walking towards Dojima's car, Guts accidentally bumped into a rather unfriendly looking girl. She had black hair and eyes, similar to him, and was wearing a sleeveless button up shirt with a black tie. She had a short red plaid skirt with black and white striped thigh-highs. She had a black belt and red and black striped finger-less gloves that went far past her elbow.

"Hey," Guts was prepared to be called an asshole once again for bumping into someone, but the girl instead said, "You dropped this," referring to a crumpled piece of paper in her hand.

"Oh. Thanks." Guts felt pretty foolish for thinking that she would be like that guy on the train. But he had to admit that the situations were really similar.

"Whatever. All I did was pick it up." Guts noticed that the it was a note with Dojima's address on it. Before he knew it, the girl was already gone and Dojima was calling out to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, curious as what was keeping his nephew from getting in the car.

Guts then simply made his way towards the car.

* * *

On the way towards the Dojima home, Nanako brought up that she needed to go to the bathroom. They had stopped off at a gas station somewhere in the central shopping district. As he pulled the small, grey, four-door car next to a pump, an overeager attendant came, practically sprinting, towards them.

"Hi! Welcome to Moel!" the attendant said, standing next to the driver's seat where Dojima was.

"Can you go to the bathroom by yourself?" Dojima asked Nanako, less than eager to allow his youngest daughter to go alone.

She had simply responded with a small "Uh-huh". The two had left the vehicle, Nanako going to find the rest-room and Dojima talking with the attendant.

The attendant noticed the little girl going towards the building and guessed what she was after, "It's in the back, to your left. You know which way's left? The side you don't hold your chopsticks in."

Nanako took the statement as being talked to like a baby, something that rubbed her the wrong way, "I know... Geez..."

Guts made his way out of the car as the attendant asked Dojima if they were taking a trip.

"No, we just went to pick him up. He just moved here from the big city."

"The city, huh...?" The attendant seemed curious about what the man meant by 'the city'.

"Fill up my car while you're at it. Regular's fine," Dojima seemed distracted by something as he almost reflexively gave the order to the attendant, who merrily went about his duty, "Good as time as any for a smoke." He then walked off away from the gas station to enjoy a cigarette.

Now that Guts could plainly see the attendant, he had trouble pinpointing what gender he/she was. The long hair and voice certainly place her/him in the female category, but the masculine looking body made him seem like an unfortunate soul with a long head of hair and androgynous appearance.

"Are you in high school?" the attendant asked, pulling Guts back to the world his mind was about to tear him from.

'_High school? What the hell is this guy talking about?_'

Just when Guts was about to voice his thoughts, the attendant interrupted any chance of that as he kept going.

"Does it surprise a city boy to see how little there is out here?" the attendant seemed to have a habit of rhetorical questions, "There's so little to do, I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs. Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now," the attendant then walked up to Guts and stuck his hand out, "Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student," Guts gave him a firm handshake as Nanako arrived back to the car, "Oh, I should get back to work." With that, the attendant left.

Guts noticed Nanako looking at him, he was about to ask her what she wanted when a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He had to press his back against the vehicle in order not to pass out or fall to the ground.

"Are you okay? Did you get carsick?" Nanako asked, concerned as she thought she saw him struggling to stay on his feet, "You don't look too good."

"I'm fine," Guts added more force into his reply than he had meant to, he could see as Nanako looked like she thought that she was in trouble, looking down at her feet and scowling. "I'm just... tired. I've had a long day."

Dojima came back to see Guts looking rather pale and wobbly, "What's wrong? You okay?"

Guts reassured him that he was alright, "Just tired. I'm fine."

Dojima seemed please to hear this, but no less worried, "That's understandable. It must have been a long trip for you." Though it sounded true, Dojima knew something was wrong. This was Guts they were talking about. The same kid that got a compound fracture in his arm at school when he was five and walked all the way back to his house before telling anybody. The kid may have been dumb, but he was certainly tough, "Why not take a little walk, get some fresh air? Just let me know when you're ready to go."

"To be honest, I think it'll do me better to rest now. I got stuff in my head I need to sort through." Guts was being half honest. He knew that if he even tried to walk, he would collapse on the ground before his foot could drop.

"Alright then, let's go."

* * *

They had finally arrived at the Dojima residence, a small two-story house with a tiny plot of land next to it that would insult the term if anyone called it a 'yard'. It had a decently sized privacy wall with a chain-link gate being the only entrance, a red mailbox lazily hanging next to it.

As they entered, Guts took note of the puny kitchen that seemed to connect into the much larger living room, which had a couch, a table with four pillows for each side, a taller table with three chairs directly beside the kitchen (though it seemed far too cluttered to be of any use) and pinning a bookcase against the wall, and a decent sized television next to the sliding glass door that was being covered with a set of dark blue curtains. Dojima and Nanako were already seated at the table by the television, Dojima sitting on the pillow closest to the couch and Nanako closest to the glass door. Guts took his seat directly across from Nanako. He saw the assortment of various sushi that were clearly processed and store-bought.

"All right, let's have a toast," Dojima said, raising his drink and expecting the rest to follow. After their small toast Dojima continued, "So... Your mom and dad are busy as always... They're working overseas, was it?"

Though the question seemed like one that Guts would have to answer, Dojima seemed more than happy to make it rhetorical by going on, "I know it's only for a year, but getting stuck in a place like this because of your parents... It's rough being a kid," he rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. He then gave a small wave of his hand to emphasize his home, "Well, it's just me and Nanako here, so it'll be nice having someone like you around. So long as you're here, you're part of the family, so make yourself at home," said Dojima, who gave Guts a small smile.

"Oh. Thanks," Guts was not too sure how else to explain his gratitude. He was never one to beat around the bush. 'Why hide what you were really thinking?' was his motto.

"C'mon, there's no need to be so formal," said Dojima, he was rather amused at how to the point his nephew was and decided to lighten the mood, "Look, you're making Nanako all tense."

Nanako herself immediately shot her gaze down to her food, embarrassed to be the center of attention out of nowhere.

"Well, anyway... Let's eat."

Right when the three were beginning to eat their dinner, Dojima's phone went off with a series of high-pitched beeps.

"Ugh... Who's calling at this hour?" Dojima was being rhetorical, he knew exactly what the call would be about as he pulled his phone out, "Dojima speaking," he gave a slight grumble and stood up, "Yeah? I see. So where is it?" he gave more grumbles and a tired 'uh-huh' to the unheard voice, "All right, I'm on my way," Dojima then put his phone back in his pocket, "Looks like I made the right choice to skip the booze..." he turned to Guts and Nanako, both of whom wishing to know what the call was about, "Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me."

Nanako stood up from the table, as if she were about to speak.

"I don't know how late I'll be. Nanako, you help him out, okay?" requested Dojima, who gestured to Guts with a small hand movement.

Nanako slightly lowered her head and gave a sad 'okay' as Dojima walked out the door. She then heard his voice call out from the door, "Nanako, it's raining out. What did you do with the laundry!?"

"I already brought it in!" she explained, still standing by the table.

"All right. Well, I'm off."

That was the last they heard before the door shut. Nanako sat herself back at the table and turned the TV to the news, which was about to announce the weather.

"~_With storm clouds moving in from the west, expect rain throughout the day tomorrow in most areas.~"_

Nanako once again paid more attention to her food and gave a soft 'let's eat'. The two ate their dinner in silence, besides whatever the news was talking about, Guts wasn't paying attention to it though.

This remained the same until Guts decided he may as well try to strike up a conversation with the small girl across from him.

"So, what does your dad do?" Guts asked, his gravely voice causing Nanako to momentarily drop her chopsticks. She was not used to the sound of his voice, it being slightly intimidating to her.

"He... investigates stuff. Like crime scenes," Nanako looked as though she was having trouble remembering the word that described Dojima's occupation. She then finally remembered and casually said, "My dad's a detective."

"~_And now for the local news.~"_

This grabbed both of their attentions as the announcer began to read the latest story.

"~_City council secretary Taro Namatame is under fire for an alleged relationship with a female reporter. His wife, enka ballad sensation Misuzu Hiragi, revealed to this station that she will likely pursue damages. In response, Eye Television has decided to cancel all of announcer Mayumi Yamano's televised appearances.~"_

"_Huh, sounds like that Namatame guy got into some deep shit."_ Guts seemed amused at the story. He knew nothing of the people it was talking about, but the idea that the guy got caught trying to two-time an aspiring reporter and a famous singer and get away with it brought a dark smile to his face.

"~_Until allegations of an affair with Mr. Namatame are resolved, she'll remain off the air and out of the public eye.~"_

"This is boring," Nanako, however, seemed less amused than Guts was and changed the channel to some grocery store commercial. The woman announcing the ad seemed far too energetic, along with the irritating music it played.

"~_At Junes, everyday is Customer Appreciation Day. Come and see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Every day's great at your Junes!~"_

The ending jingle was enough to cause a migraine. Hopefully that would be the last time he would hear it.

"~Every day's great at your Junes!~" sang a cheery Nanako.

God. Damn it.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Nanako seemed to break out of her singing to see that Guts had barely touched his food.

* * *

Guts scanned the room he would be using for the next year. A television held up by a stand that could also be used to hold DVDs, the table and small couch directly across from it currently littered with boxes, the drawers sandwiching the television to hold his clothes, the work desk next to the couch, and finally the small futon in the far corner of the room.

As Guts laid upon said futon, not caring about the fact he was still dressed as the exhaustion he felt earlier came back with a horrible vengeance, all he could think about was how he will have to live in this town for a whole year.

He also thought about how **fucking uncomfortable the damned futon was**!

* * *

He found himself in a strange fog-filled place. It was too thick to even see five feet in front of him. The most he could make out was the ground he was standing on was a red tile.

"~_Do you seek the truth?~"_

Guts spun around, trying to pinpoint where that strange voice came from. It had a heavy tone, yet sounded empty to his ears, more like a quiet hiss of air than a voice.

"~_If it is the truth you seek, than come and find me.~"_

"What the hell are you talking about?" Guts was trying to peer through the fog and find whoever was speaking to him. But no matter how hard he tried, the fog only seemed to grow thicker. "Answer me, God damn it!"

The last thing he heard before fading away from the strange place was a multitude of tormenting voices whispering the word 'sacrifice'.

* * *

Guts awoke with a start, rising up from his futon and holding his body stable with his elbows. What was that weird place?

"Doesn't matter. It was just a dream," Guts said, meaning it more to be a thought than be said aloud. He wiped his face with his right hand, being careful not to bash his skull in with the left in his dreary state. He heard a knock at his door and Nanako announced that breakfast was ready.

"_I have to get up anyway._"

As Guts rose to his feet, he saw how wrinkled his uniform was, which he still had on since the day before. He didn't see an issue with still wearing it. It wasn't torn or anything. Who would give a damn about a few wrinkles anyway?

One thing that Guts was not happy about was needing to transfer to a high school in the quiet little town. It was not that he hated school, he 'didn't give a damn one way or the other' about it. What he did hate was having to explain that despite his appearance, he was not out of high school yet.

Despite his young age, Guts seemed to have had a strange aura about him, making him seem much older than he is at first glance. It did not help that he was an introvert, keeping to himself instead of trying to be outgoing. It was not that he was shy or anything, he just never tried to befriend anyone. He always preferred his own company, enjoying solitude more than meeting new people. Though if anyone approached him, he would talk and be more social. However, the fact of how he seemed 'battle-worn', as people said, made it hard for people to approach him and be comfortable. How they came up with 'battle-worn' is beyond him, it sounded ridiculous.

Guts walked down the stairs next to the door way to see Nanako setting the table across from the kitchen for breakfast. The table held toast, eggs, and sausage, all well cooked and ready for the two to eat.

Nanako saw him and gave a casual 'good morning' before the two sat on the chairs across from each other.

"Okay. Let's eat," Nanako said, still with a casual tone that Guts could detect held a hint of shyness.

He also noticed the lack of Dojima, who was nowhere to be seen.

"Did your dad go to work?" Guts was never one for formalities, he almost never addressed people by title when he wasn't forced to.

"There was some kind of trouble. He won't be back," More and more Nanako sounded like a housewife than a little girl, "You're starting school today, right?"

Guts gave a small nod to her as he dug into his breakfast, his mouth full of egg and sausage.

"My school's on the way, so... let's go together," Nanako said, though it sounded more like a request to him.

Guts swallowed the food in his mouth and gave an uncaring shrug.

"Eh, why not."

* * *

After breakfast was finished and the two got their supplies for the day, Guts having a dark briefcase and Nanako with a red backpack, they made their way out the door. Just before they went out into the rain, they both retrieved their umbrellas. The two walked out onto the street and were making their way to their schools. However, Nanako stopped in her tracks shortly after and looked towards Guts.

"Um. What grade are you in?" Nanako asked, her tone showing that was generally curious.

"I'm a second year in high school, why?" Guts turned his head towards the little girl, wanting to know why **she** wanted to know.

"Well, it's just that you look pretty old. So I wanted to know what grade you were in since it seems weird that you would still have to go to school," Nanako could not see how Guts was gritting his teeth in annoyance.

"Let's just get going."

* * *

As Guts made his way to an intersection on the way to the school, he could tell by the high school students that passed by on his way, he saw one particular student attempting to ride a bike and carry an umbrella at the same time. That same combo resulted in said student crashing into a nearby stoplight and injuring his man-parts.

Guts could see him writhing in pain, but was content to leave him soaking in the rain and with the possibility that he would never breed. As he walked past him, Guts quietly muttered to himself "See ya later, fucker."

* * *

Guts finally arrived at Yasogami High School, a rather traditional looking school with three floors and multiple buildings connected with roofed pathways.

"_Well, as the saying goes, what's the worst that could happen?_"

* * *

The small classroom was abuzz with students talking with their friends and discussing the latest gossip that they had accumulated throughout their vacation. However, some students were less than excited with their class listings than others.

"Ah, man. Talk about bad luck... The homeroom teacher here is Morooka, isn't it?" one student asked, sounding like he was about to be killed by firing squad.

"Yeah, it's King Moron alright... We get to enjoy his long-ass sermons everyday for a whole year..." his friend answered, more accepting of the situation, but no more pleased.

"Hey you guys, I heard there's going to be a transfer student from the city in this class," a female student said, butting into the conversation.

"Huh? Really? A guy or a girl?" the student sitting next to her asked, finding himself more intrigued.

The students sitting in the row of desks next to the group of chatty students soon found their own curiosity peaked.

"A transfer student from the city... Just like you, huh, Yosuke?" a girl with a green and yellow jacket sitting in one of the desks asked her friend, who had his hands and head were splayed across the desktop in front of him, "Huh? You look dead today," she said, noticing his condition.

"Yeah, um... I don't wanna talk about it..." a student with orange headphones said, who wished to bury the events that caused his agony forever.

"What's with him?" the girl asked her other friend, who was wearing a red school uniform and hairband, who sat in front of her friend but turned herself to the side to talk to her.

"Who knows?" the girl in red asked rhetorically.

Shortly after, a man with a set of large buck-teeth and a bad suit, and haircut, entered the room and took his place in front of the chalkboard. Alongside him was a large and muscular man. He looked to be about in his late twenties, yet was wearing a student uniform. He had dark black hair and eyes, along with a scar across the bridge of his nose. Though the most noticeable thing about him was the lack of his left arm, it being replaced by a metal prosthetic that reached up to just below his elbow. The students found themselves shocked to see such a presence in their classroom. Who was that guy? Before they could get an answer, the other man spoke.

"Awright, shut your traps!" the buck-toothed man sounded less than pleased and was not afraid to show it, "I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward!" the man pointed a finger towards the ceiling, "First things first! Just 'cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons," he then retracted the finger and tapped his thumb against his chest, "Long as I'm around, you students are going to be as pure as driven snow!"

The students already hated everything about the man once again, from his cheap looking blue suit and yellow tie, to his huge teeth that seemed to refuse to enter his mouth, right down to how he looked like a hunch-backed twig with how he stood.

"Now I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce the transfer student," Morooka said as though he was somehow warning the class about something they did not catch.

"Uh, Mr. Morooka, sir?" one student asked, his hand raised in the air, "Where is the transfer student?"

"Well if you let me finish, dumb ass, you would know that it would be the big lug right there!" Morooka all but screamed at the student, but he emphasized that he was talking about Guts with a pat to his shoulder. He took the shocked silence of the class as obedience and continued, "This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage."

Already Guts planned to strangle him with his own intestines, but knew that would just cause more trouble than its worth. He'd get him when they were alone.

"And he's just as much of a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him!" Morooka then turned to look at Guts, who was gritting his teeth rather violently, "Tell 'em your name, kid, and make it quick."

"I'm Guts," he said, his voice causing discomfort as the class seemed to shuffle in their seats. There was not much he could do besides stand there and talk the abuse... for now.

"I said your name! Not your stupid nickname!" Morooka said, once again got to his near screaming level, "That's it, you're on my shit list, effective immediately."

Just as soon as the class believed that King Moron was done with his sermon, he came back with a vengeance.

"Now listen up!" Morooka's voice back at the near scream again, "This town is miles away from your big city of perverts and assholes, in more ways than one," he then prodded Guts' large shoulder with a finger as he spoke, "You better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let along abusing them!" Morooka then ceased his poking and turned his head towards the window, "But what do I know... it's not like the old days. Even here, kids grow up so damn fast." He then shifted his tone to a more condescending and sarcastic way of speaking, "Every time I turn my back, you're fooling around on those damn phones, checking your _life-journals_ and your _my-places_."

Morooka then begun to rant about something no one cared about, or even attempted to. He seemed to drone on for hours until one angel of mercy raised her hand, interrupting his spew of hatred and profanity that quite frankly should have gotten him fired.

"Excuse me! Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?" the girl with the green jacket asked, the entire class seeing her as Jesus Christ incarnate for saving them from the brain cell slaughtering wrath of Morooka's speech.

"Huh? Yeah, sure. Ya hear that? Your seat's over there," Morooka said, broken from his rant about how 'the mass belief of global warming because of dumb ass hipsters is causing a spike in the murder rate among teens'. He then turned his head towards Guts and barked the order to sit down.

Guts did just that, taking his seat next to the girl in green, who had a brown bowl-shaped haircut that matched her eyes.

"He's the worst, huh?" the girl in green whispered to Guts, "Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class... Well, we just have to hang in there for a year."

Guts could hear people whispering about him throughout the classroom. His favorite rumor at that point was that he was secretly a CIA agent sent to spy on the school. Second to that was that he was a psychopath that was going to start slaughtering the classroom at any moment, which Guts could not deny sounded like that could have been pretty fun.

"Shut your traps! I'm taking roll, and I damn well expect you to respond in an orderly manner!" Morooka barked, ending the students' attempt to continue further with their conversations.

All Guts could think about as Morooka went about the lecture was how tight he'd make that tie.

"_Til his head popped off his shoulders..._"

* * *

"That's all for today. Normal lectures will start tomorrow."

The words of mercy were finally spoken. They were finally free of that Hell hole of a classroom for a whole twenty-four hours!

"Attention, all teachers," the intercom screeched, practically popping a few eardrums, "Please report immediately to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."

Morooka turned to face the class and gave the order to stay in the classroom until they heard otherwise, still sounding like a royal prick while doing it of course. He then left the classroom, which seemed to spring to life with his absence. Students all took the time they had to talk with friends and share a general hatred for anything with bad haircuts and large teeth.

Just as the students believed that they were finally able to relax, the sound of sirens began to scream closer and closer to them, eventually fading away but still leaving them worried.

"D-did something really happen? Didn't those sirens sound really close?" one student inquired, sounding like he was about to pass out from anxiety.

"Ugh, I can't see a damn thing. Frickin' fog," another student said, trying to peak out the window to what could have caused the latest ruckus.

Guts then began to ignore the boys at the window, even when one of them walked up to the girl in red and asked something about the announcer staying at an inn. He was tired of being in that damned classroom already. Even the idea that Morooka was in it was pissing him off.

However, he did notice the green girl walking up to, and talking with, the girl in red. Something about the colors the two drew his attention.

"Sheesh, how much longer is this gonna take?" the green one asked her friend, who seemed to be getting impatient.

"There's no telling," her friend said, who was still seated in her desk.

"I shoulda left before that announcement came on," the green one said, sounding bitter for not leaving earlier, "By the way, didja try what I told you the other day?" she asked, her mood doing a complete 180, "You know... That thing about rainy nights..."

Her friend seemed to sink into herself as she told her no, offering an apology as well.

Her friend waved it off and merely said, "Ahhh, that's okay. It's just that I heard a guy in the class next door yell something like, 'My soulmate is Yamano, the announcer!'"

Guts was already getting another migraine at their chit-chat. Why was he so interested? Even when he tried to focus on other things, playing a song or two in his head or thinking about checking his arm for rust, he kept overhearing the two girls' conversation.

Luckily, the intercom announced that the students could leave, but that an incident occurred within the district and that police were dispatched around the school zone.

"_Police? That include Dojima?_"

Guts then was torn out of his thoughts as he overheard students talking about what had happened. He could also see, out of the corner of his eye, that more than one of his classmates were looking warily at him.

As he rose up from his seat, eager to get away from the class as soon as possible, the two girls he overheard earlier approached him.

"Hey, are you going home by yourself?" the girl in green asked him, "Why don't you come with us?"

Guts was about to reject the offer and leave, but then he really thought about it, wouldn't have been the worst of luck to be seen alone, fresh to town, directly after an incident that involved police? That was a scenario that he would rather avoid for now. However, the girl in green seemed to make his mind up for him.

"Oh, nearly forgot! I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit next to you, right?" the girl named Chie asked, giving Guts a warm smile.

"Yep. You're the one that managed to make that buck-toothed asshole shut up for five seconds," Guts answered, showing his bitterness towards the man he was sure was not actually a legal teacher.

Chie was shocked at how the large guy in front of her was quick to talk to her. Usually the transfer students that came to their school started off pretty shy, not willing to openly speak with other students until a few days after they showed up. But not only did he seem comfortable already, he also shared the same level of hatred that would take most students a certain number of days to gather towards King Moron, usually one and a half.

"Well, nice to meet you!" Chie was still trying to seem bright and friendly, turning to her friend in red who had long black hair that reached past her shoulders, "This is Yukiko Amagi."

The Amagi girl then gave a slight bow, "Oh, nice to meet you... I'm sorry that this is so sudden."

"C'mon, don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing," Chie dropped her smile out of embarrassment, "I just wanted to ask some stuff. Really, that's all."

As the three made their way out of the classroom, a brown-haired boy came up to them, looking like he was about to shot by a hidden sniper that only he knew about.

"Uh, umm, Miss Satonaka...?" the boy asked, sounding more worried by the second, "This was really awesome. Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see..." Something was wrong. They all could tell. This was proven as the boy bent his body ninety degrees, his face facing the floor and his arms holding out a case to a DVD, "And... I'm really sorry! It was an accident! Please just have mercy until my next paycheck!"

Chie took the case and the boy took the chance to try to run out of the classroom.

"Stop right there! What did you do to my DVD!?" Chie then chased after him. She easily caught up and decided to play whack-a-mole using her foot and his privates. Having him unable to escape, she opened the case to see a horror that would forever be burned into her mind. "What the!? I can't believe this! It's completely cracked..." Chie gave a wail of despair, "My 'Trial of the Dragon'..."

The boy found his voice once again, "I think mine's cracked too... C-Critical hit to the nads..."

Now that Guts thought about it. That unlucky boy's tone of anguish and suffering sounded familiar.

"A-Are you alright?" Yukiko asked, trying to see if the boy needed any first-aid. Chie always seemed to underestimate the power of her kicks towards him... or maybe not, now that she thought about it.

The boy gave a sly gin and asked in a voice that implied things that made Chie wish to kick him once again, "Oh, Yukiko-san... Are you worried about me?"

Chie would have none of that as she said that he was fine and to ditch him.

All three then left the classroom, leaving a boy with a broken set of equipment to suffer.

* * *

As the three made their way past the school gate, a strange boy approached them. He had dark black hair that matched his pupils, which looked as though they were just black spots on his eyes. They could see a different uniform than what they were supposed to wear, meaning that he was from another school.

He began to speak, his voice sounding _off_ to them, "You're Yuki, right? Y-You want to go hang out somewhere?"

Yukiko, who had no idea what he was talking about, tried to let that be shown in her speech, "What...? Wh-Who are you?"

Guts could see students gathering around them, talking about how the boy was attempting something called 'the Amagi Challenge'. The fact that a term was coined about this scenario showed how often this had to have happened.

The boy was getting more forceful with his tone, trying to sound intimidating, "Come on, let's go hang out somewhere."

Chie was quick to jump to her friend's aid, "Back off! You're being a freak!" Guts noticed how volatile she had become in regards to Yukiko.

"Come on. Let's go, Yukiko," the boy said, sounding more dazed than anything at that point. He slowly reached out to grab her arm...

The boy shrieked in pain, feeling the heavy, bone-crushing, grip on his wrist from the large man beside the two girls. What he also noticed was that he seemed less than happy at the moment.

"Back off," he ordered simply.

"What?" the boy asked. 'This wasn't supposed to happen'!

"The girl doesn't want to go with you," the man said, giving a slight shrug that almost tore the boy's arm off when his own arm moved, "So cut your losses and leave."

"W-What happens if I said for you to go screw yourself!?" the boy was getting more frustrated by the minute with that big asshole getting in his way.

"Then I give you your arm back."

The boy scoffed at that, what kind of threat was-

"Up your ass and side ways."

The boy bit his lip and gave an immature 'Fine!' before running off, Guts relinquishing his wrist.

Yukiko was still perplexed by what had just happened, "Wh-What did he want from me...?"

Chie, who caught on to what he was insinuating from the beginning gave a simple answer, "What did he want...? Obviously, he was asking you out on a date."

Yukiko seemed shocked at this, "Huh? Really?"

Chie put her hand to her head, "You really had no clue? Sheesh..." she then reviewed the scenario in her mind, "But then again, that was way over the top. It was creepy how he called you Yuki all of a sudden."

Suddenly, the brown haired student from before walked up to them, pulling his bicycle alongside him.

"Yo, Yukiko-san. Turned down another lovelorn fool, huh?" the boy asked casually, clearly a friend of the three, "Man, you're cruel... You got me the same way last year."

Yukiko put a finger to her chin, trying to remember the scenario the boy spoke of, "I don't recall doing that."

The boy then saw a shot and went for it as fast as he could, "Whoa, you serious? So then, you wanna hang out sometime!?" Guts was fully prepared to take his head off, still pumped up by the adrenaline from before, however he seemed to be understandable when Yukiko rejected his offer, "That'll teach me to get my hopes up..." The boy noticed the transfer student, Guts as he recalled, and felt that he needed to give his input to the situation, "Anyways, you two better not pick on the transfer student too much." He rode away as Chie shouted that they were just curious about him.

Yukiko then turned to Guts and spoke meekly, "U-Um, I'm sorry for dragging you into this..."

Chie saw the mass of students that were watching the situation unfold from the beginning, causing her to want to leave at that very moment, "C'mon, let's go. Everyone's staring."

The two made their way ahead of Guts, who took his time to shout a loud 'Fuck off!' to the onlookers, causing them to scatter like frightened pigeons.

* * *

As the three made their way down the street, Chie remarked on the story Guts had told them about why he was in town.

"Ah... so you came here because of your parents' job," Chie gave a seemingly nervous laugh, "Haha, I thought it was something way more serious."

"You thought I was an undercover agent or something?" Guts asked, giving a sly smile as he once again remembered his favorite rumor going on about him.

"There really is nothing here, huh?" Chie asked, changing the subject out of nowhere, "That's what makes it nice, but there is nothing much we can show to people from outside," Chie put a finger to her chin, trying to think of something of worthwhile mention, "Though there is something from Mt. Yasogami... I think our dyed clothes or pottery or something is kinda famous," she then grew a large smile on her face as she found something to bring up about the town, "Oh wait, and there's the Amagi Inn! Yukiko's family runs it. It's the pride of Inaba!"

"Huh? It's... just an old inn," Yukiko said, less excited about it than her friend.

"No way, it's been in all sortsa magazines as a hidden treasure," Chie said, emphasizing the Inn's fame, "It's a great inn! It's been going for generations, and Yukiko here is going to take over someday," she said almost impressed by what she was saying, "Their inn actually attracts a lot of visitors to Inaba. It pretty much keeps this town going."

"... I don't think that's entirely true," Yukiko once again tried to make the inn sound more humble than what her friend was making it out to be.

"So, tell me. You think Yukiko's cute, huh?" Chie asked, once again changing the subject for little reason.

Guts waited for her to keep talking, he was finally catching on to her habit of rhetorical questions (a running trait in the town now that he thought about it), but she seemed to honestly be waiting for an answer.

"Considering that I don't have a migraine when she talks, I'll just go with 'yeah' for now," Guts said, giving a large sigh before he answered.

Chie then laughed and screamed "I knew it!"

"Come on... Don't start this again..." Yukiko said, looking towards the asphalt below her.

"She's really popular at school, but she's never had a boyfriend. Kinda weird, huh?" Chie continued on regardless of what Yukiko was saying.

"C-Come on, stop it," Yukiko said, her face red like her clothes, "Y-You shouldn't believe that, okay? It's not true that I'm popular or that I've never had a boyfriend!" she then realized how awkward she was making the conversation, "Wait, n-no! What I meant to say was, I-I don't need a boyfriend! Geez... Chie!"

"Hahaha!" Chie tried to contain her laughs and apologize, "Sorry, I'm sorry. But this is our chance to talk to someone from the big city, and you barely said a word!" she then noticed something ahead of them, "Hey, what's that?"

* * *

_**Next time: **_

_"Saki Konishi has passed away."_

_"You guys ever hear of the Midnight Channel?"_

_"So what's the magician's secret?"_

_"**You did it, you son of a bitch!**"_

* * *

_A/N_

Hello, internet!This is Plaguegriped here with a Persona 4 retelling! **BECAUSE IT HASN'T BEEN DONE BEFORE, RIGHT!? **

Ahem, excuse me.

Anyways, one boring and lonely night that involved me unable to get a good night's sleep gave birth to an idea stewing in my brains.

"_You know, I think it'd be neat if Guts from Berserk was in Persona 4._"

Next thing I knew, I was downloading a writing software and making an account for this site.

Now before P4 fanboys rip my head off for essentially scrapping Yu out for a blood-thirsty psychopath like Guts... Okay, guess I can't talk my way out of that one.

Now before Berserk fanboys rip my head off for essentially turning Guts into a high school student having quirky adventures, I will have you know one thing: **THERE IS A FIC WHERE THE ENTIRE CAST IS IN HIGH SCHOOL** **AND HAS A GUTS/GRIFFITH PAR-**. Okay. Not that one. What I'm actually going to say is that the Berserk lore _will_ play a factor later on. Basically, get ready for that psychopathic blood-raging monster we all know and love, Brand of Sacrifice and all.

Please remember to leave a review to help me make this story better, mainly so I can skew away more from the game of Persona and do more side story stuff and not have it be torture to read (assuming this fic isn't already).


	2. Welcome To Inaba: The Case Is On

The three approached the crime scene slowly, noticing the police tape sectioning off the road and holding back a crowd of curious bystanders. They saw the large number of people, mostly housewives, gossiping about what had happened. Talking about how a high schooler left school early and came down the street, and how something like _that_ was hung from an antenna. One also said that the police and fire department took whatever it was down a moment before.

"Well, I think it's terrifying. I can't believe a dead body showed up around here..."

This caught their attention.

"Wait... What did she just say? A dead body!?" Chie asked, in such disbelief that you'd think someone had said that a Pegasus crashed on a rooftop instead.

Dojima made his way past the police tape, noticing Guts with the two girls. Curious about what happened at school that would have lead to his nephew walking with them, he approached.

"Hey what're you doing here?" Dojima asked, his tone casual.

"What is this about a dead body?" Guts asked, wanting to know if what the woman said was true.

Well... You could say that," Dojima said, trying to not give a direct answer. He gave the back of his neck a scratch, "That damn principal. We told him not to let them through here..."

"You know this guy?" Chie asked, barely able to contain her curiosity.

"I'm Detective Dojima, his guardian," he explained before Guts could answer her, "Uhh... Well, how should I say this... I hope you get along with him," Dojima then shifted his tone to be more forceful, "But you three really ought to stop wandering around and head straight home." With that, he walked back towards the police tape, rubbing shoulders with a much younger looking man in a suit who was busy running to a patch of grass before he showed the neighborhood what he had for breakfast that morning. The groans he made as he emptied his stomach caused visible chills to crawl up their spines. "Adachi! How long are you going to act like a rookie? You want to be sent to the central office!?"

The younger man gave an attempt at an apology before trying to choke back another round of nausea.

"*sigh* Go wash your face. We're gonna go around and gather information!"

Adachi then ran back to Dojima, who was out of sight of the three high schoolers at that point.

"Was this what that announcement was about?" Chie asked, connecting the two strange events that had occurred that day.

"What do they mean 'it was hanging from the antenna...'?" Yukiko seemed to be absorbed with her own train of thought.

"Whatever happened, it sure wasn't good," Guts said, adding his own input.

Chie then turned to her friend and uncomfortably said, "Hey, Yukiko...? Why don't we go to Junes some other time?"

Yukiko gave a slow nod and replied with, "Good idea..."

Chie turned to Guts, her mood trying to sound energetic despite the circumstances, "Alright then, we're taking off. Starting tomorrow, neighbor, let's do our best!"

Guts gave a slight nod and decided that it would have been best to go home for the day and get away from the crime scene. Something about the place sent a chill down his back.

* * *

Guts and Nanako sat at the table by television, waiting for the local news to air. The atmosphere was deathly quiet, neither side willing to open their mouths yet yearning for the other to start. Nanako fidgeted on her pillow, sitting in her usual spot.

"I wonder if Dad's not coming home again tonight," she said, though it sounded like she knew the answer already.

Suddenly, the news theme played, announcing the beginning of the broadcast. Though it seemed that they were going to start with the local news first.

"_~Our top story this evening concerns a bizarre case in a quiet suburb,~_" Guts could guess what case they were talking about already, "_~Around noon today, a woman was found dead near the Samegawa River in Inaba.~_"

"_Damn. So there was a dead body,_" Guts thought bitterly to himself.

"~_The deceased has been identified as Ms. Mayumi Yamano, a 27-year-old announcer at the local television station.~_"

"_Wait. Yamano? That woman Namatame got caught with?_" Somehow, the thought eased Guts. They would catch Namatame, who more than likely killed her, and that would be it. Most of the time the husband did it, he learned from similar cases of affair ending with murder that made it to mass media attention. Of course, that is assuming it was even murder. Suicide seemed likely to him. She practically ruined her career for a guy that ran off first chance he got.

"~_The initial results of the Inaba Police Department's investigation have revealed...~"_

"Ah! The Inaba Police Department! Th-That's where Dad works!" Nanako said, shocked to hear her father's workplace mentioned on the news. She went silent for a while after that, staring at the television, trying to hear more about what was happening. Guts could see that she was worried about her father. Which made sense because he was all she had at that point.

"Hey. He'll be alright. Dojima's a tough guy," Guts said, trying to ease her worry.

Nanako looked at him for a moment, then shifted her gaze back to the television, "I know. That's his job, so this stuff happens," she said, almost sounding recited.

"~_The body was found hanging from a large television antenna atop a local resident's roof,~" _the news anchor continued, "~_Authorities are uncertain as to why the body was in such a state. With the cause of death also uncertain, police continue to investigate whether the death is an accident or a homicide,~"_ That caused Guts to wonder for a second. How could they not now whether it was an accident or a murder? He doubted that she threw herself onto an antenna by mistake. She either knew or was already dead.

"~_A thick fog common to the area has slowed their progress, and plans to fully canvas the area are delayed until tomorrow.~"_

"_So the body I heard about earlier was that announcer?"_

"They found her on the roof? That's scary..." Nanako seemed to shrivel inside herself, not afraid to admit that she was afraid. That was, until a certain commercial aired shortly after, "Oh, it's Junes!"

"~_At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Every day's great at your Junes~!~"_

"Every day's great at your Junes~!" Nanako sang cheerfully. Guts noticed the expectant look on her face when she her head towards him. Knowing children, he'd rather not try to explain to Dojima why he made his only daughter cry. So it'd be best to play along, is the conclusion he decided on.

"Your Junes~!" Guts tried to pass the sound of gargling gravel as his attempt at singing. Thankfully, Nanako didn't seem to mind.

"You memorized it already?" Nanako asked, a cheery smile on her face, "I'm the best one in my class!" She then began to sing the song over and over to herself.

Guts then decided to just call it a night. He needed to get his head out of all the insanity he was just exposed to throughout the day. Maybe tomorrow would be better?

* * *

The next day definitely started off as an improvement. For one, the magnet of pain and suffering once again caught himself into a horribly embarrassing scenario. Being stuck head first in a trash can and flailing his legs to try to loosen himself and escape. Guts also noticed that it was the exact same intersection that he saw the same kid injure himself the first time.

"S-Someone..." the kid pleaded miserably. He halfheartedly thought it would have been better to stay in the trashcan for now. At least until he was sure no one was around. It didn't help that he heard someone laughing right next to him.

"All right. All right," he heard a voice say, "Just calm down and let me get you out of there."

After the man yanked him out of the trash can, the boy then picked up the bicycle that fell over in the crash that caused his predicament.

"Whew, you saved me. Thanks! Umm..." the boy started, until he noticed the large, muscular man that towered over him. His left arm a metallic replacement that reached up to just below his elbow and a horizontal scar across the bridge of his nose. He would not have been lying if he had said that he was not worried that the guy was about to mug him right then and there, but he tried to convince himself that he was fine. "Oh, yeah, that's right. You're that transfer student, Guts," the boy extended his right hand, "I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Nice to meet ya."

"You enjoy getting hurt all the time?" Guts asked, though he accepted the handshake.

"Haha... Yeah, I've kinda had a bad week," Yosuke said, scratching the back of his head, "Say, did you hear about the incident from yesterday? They found that announcer lady hanging from an antenna!" Yosuke seemed to have a mixture of curiosity and discomfort when he mentioned the dead announcer, "You think it was some kinda warning? There's no way something that weird could've been an accident."

"To be honest, I think she offed herself," Guts answered bluntly, "That or that guy she was screwing around with got pissed that he got caught and tried to bury the evidence."

"Yeesh. That's pretty cold," Yosuke was not about to poke holes in his theory though. People believe what they want when there's so little information to rely on, "Dangling a dead body over a roof like that... That's just messed up," he visibly shivered, "Then again, it's pretty messed up to kill someone in the first place." Yosuke then looked to his watch and a sudden look of terror crossed his face. "Oh crap, we're late!" Yosuke then turned his bike towards the direction of the school. He was about to ride off then and there until he remembered the guy who had practically saved him. "You wanna ride? It's a little squeaky, but it should be fine."

"No thanks," Guts said, "I'd rather not ride bitch seat."

* * *

Though the class was dead silent, Morooka decided to grab everyone's attention with a loud "Be quiet, you idiots! You guys _are_ in high school, aren't you!? Can't you shut up during class?" He then proceeded to mock the class for 'a lack in common sense'.

Guts was more than ready to tune him out after he explained that he was the philosophy teacher... again. Guts was already playing a song in his head and could not hear when Morooka started insulting the attitude of some students and claimed that being taught by him was an honor. The black-haired male overheard one sarcastic student whisper to his friend.

"**More like a 'horror'...**"

"And I'll be going especially hard on any of you morons that're curious about the murder!" That statement drew Guts' attention back to the teacher, wondering why he even brought it up to begin with. Though, he just ended his rant with an order to get their books out.

Eventually the class ended, having everyone involved more than happy to leave, and never look back, for the day. In fact, the only student who was at his desk and not gathering his stuff was Guts, who was wrapped up into his thoughts. Mainly, what Morooka said earlier.

"_Why is he so volatile about the Yamano case? And why did he call it a 'murder'? The police haven't said anything like that yet..._"

For the moment, he just mentally put it down to Morooka acting like a jackass, as usual. Still... was it really a murder? Were people already jumping to that? It did make sense, now that he thought about it. Admittedly, the suicide thing was pretty weak. Why make a show of it and throw herself onto an antenna?

It was Yosuke who broke him from that train of thought, approaching him and asking a question he couldn't hear.

"Sorry, what was that?" Guts asked, shaking his head before turning to Yosuke. He was thankful that he got his head out of the Yamano case. It wasn't his problem, he shouldn't make it be his problem.

"I asked if you were getting used this place," Yosuke said, offering a cheap, but friendly, smile, "You know? The town."

"Yeah. It's pretty good," Guts answered simply, "Except for the dead woman the day after I show up."

"Yeeeah," Yosuke put a hand on his forehead as he spoke, "You caught more than just me on a bad week." He shrugged his shoulders. "There isn't much to do here compared to the big city, but there is that certain something you can't get anywhere else," Yosuke's voice seemed to relax more and more, "The air's clean, the food's great. Oh, you know the local delicacy? It's grilled steak, man! Like that's anything special, huh?" Yosuke chuckled as he asked the question. "I know a place where you can get cheap. Wanna come? You helped me out this morning, so it's on me."

Guts was feeling pretty hungry by that point. Plus it was free, so why not? He then noticed Chie behind Yosuke, appearing from out of nowhere.

"What about me, huh? No apologies?" She asked, though it was more of a demand.

"GAH!" Yosuke screamed, sounding more like a little girl than anything else, "Oh, Chie!"

"My '_Trial of the Dragon',_" she said bitterly.

"Urgh... You always come around when I'm talking about food..." Yosuke said, defeated. He knew that he had no choice in this matter. He was screwed.

Pleased, Chie looked towards Yukiko, who was just organizing her stuff and about to leave. "How about it, Yukiko? Don't you think he should treat us, too?"

Yukiko politely rejected the offer, claiming that she didn't want to gain anymore weight and that she needed to help out at the inn that day.

"Wow, Yukiko-san! You started training to take over the business?" Yosuke asked, impressed at his friend's initiative to already take over the family business.

"It's nothing like!" she said, sounding surprisingly bitter, "I'm just helping out when it gets busy."

"Sounds like they're training ya," Guts said simply.

"Well, I should be on my way." Yukiko then made her way out of the classroom, shooting a slight glare towards Guts for a single moment that only she herself noticed.

"Oh well. We should get going too," Chie said, disappointed that her friend wasn't coming along.

"Huh? Do I seriously have to treat two people!?"

* * *

The clouds made the atmosphere in the roofless food court seem much gloomier than normal, feeling heavy and depressing instead of welcoming and relaxing. Guts sat at one of the tables along with Chie, his back pressed against the plastic chair that was the very definition of the word 'discomfort'. He found himself shifting around, trying to find a spot that didn't press into his vertebrae.

"THIS is the cheap place you were talking about? They don't have grilled steak here," Chie said, angry over being screwed out of the delicious steak she was promised, as Yosuke arrived with their food.

"Yeah, well, once you hopped on the freeloader train, I had to change my plans," Yosuke explained, sounding bitter.

"Still, that's no reason to take us to your place," Chie said, pouting somewhat.

"Dude, this isn't my place or anything," the brown-haired boy attempted to say as justification.

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Guts asked, shoving his way into the conversation.

"Oh, right. I haven't told you yet, huh?" Yosuke seemed shocked that he forgot to tell Guts the basic fact that he used to pick up women. "I moved here from another city about six months back," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "This location just opened up, and my dad was assigned to manage it. So our entire family came out here." He then picked up one of the three sodas that he ordered. "Here, this is to welcome you to town." His head turned to Chie. "Satonaka, yours is on me too," he said with a coy smile.

"Yeah, I know," she said, annoyed.

The three then ate their food. Yosuke taking small bites at a time while Chie was attacking hers like a maniac. Guts was already finished by the time Yosuke finished the first chunk on his fork.

"Dude, how'd you get done so fast?" he asked, shocked at the astonishing speed.

"I eat fast," he said simply, "I got shit to do and no time to waste."

"It's only been half a year since this place opened up, but I haven't been to the local shopping district much since," Chie said, derailing the conversation in the way that was really getting on Guts' nerves. Why do they enjoy doing it so much!? "A lot of stores there started closing, and... Oh, uh..." Chie noticed the sad, kicked-puppy-dog look that Yosuke was giving her.

"Y-You can't blame it all on Junes, can you?" Yosuke asked, sounding terrified of the answer. The silence answered for him.

The atmosphere returned to the dark and gloomy area it was before the conversation, all three merely brooding in silence. That was until Yosuke noticed a specific employee who looked a year older than he did. She had shoulder-length hair that appeared to have been a dark blonde, and was wearing a Junes apron.

"Hey... It's Saki-senpai!" Yosuke announced cheerfully. "Sorry, be right back." He then left the table, leaving Guts and Chie.

"Who's the girl?" Guts asked.

"That's Saki Konishi. Her family runs a liquor store in the shopping district," Chie explained. "I think she's working here part-time though."

"So she's working for the enemy?" Guts jokingly asked, chuckling darkly.

They could overhear Yosuke's and Saki's conversation, noticing his over-excitement and nervous attitude and her exhausted one.

"Hey, how's it going? You look beat," Yosuke said, sounding as if he was trying to hide his building nervousness.

"Hey! I'm finally on break," Saki said, sounding as if she was about to pass out any moment. "What's up Hana-chan? Boosting the family business by bringing your friends here?"

"Madam, you wound me!" Yosuke said melodramatically. "Kidding aside... You look down. Did something happen?" This time he was showing very clear worry towards the girl.

"It's nothing," she said while giving a small smile, "I'm just a little tired."

"Hey, if you need to talk, I'm always willing to listen. I-"

Saki gave a tired chuckle that cut him off. "I'm okay. Thanks, though," she then laid her forehead onto the table, "*sigh* Why'd I leave school early yesterday...?"

Yosuke couldn't make out what she was saying, her whispering it to herself. But he did see how she turned her head and noticed Guts and Chie still sitting at their table, both eavesdropping on the two.

"Hey... is he the guy who transferred here?" Saki asked curiously.

"Who? You mean Guts?" Yosuke asked.

"Guts? So that's his name..." Saki seemed to have a smile on her face as she stood up from the plastic chair she was sitting in, which she was really considering breaking. "I heard something about a 'one-armed foreign guy built like a pro-wrestler' being the transfer student, but I couldn't believe that it was true."

She and Yosuke walked to the table with Guts and Chie, who worried that they were caught spying on them. However, Saki seemed to have had a warm tone as she spoke with Guts.

"Are you the transfer student? Oh, did you hear about me already?" Saki asked, sounding very strange to Guts. She seemed different than when Chie or Yukiko introduced themselves. He just chalked it up to her seeming past her limit and trying to keep a friendly expression. "It must be nice to have someone else from the big city to talk to, huh?" She then turned towards Yosuke, who seemed anxious for some unknown reason. "I don't see Hana-chan hanging out with the other guys much."

"Uh—Not necessarily..." Yosuke said, embarrassed.

"He doesn't have too many friends, so I hope you two get along good," Saki said, continuing to offhandedly insult Yosuke. "Hana-chan's a good guy, but he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell him right to his face when he starts to annoy you."

"Eh. He ain't too bad," Guts said, shrugging his shoulders, "If he was, I woulda left his ass in the trash can."

Yosuke's face went pale when Guts mentioned the event that caused their meeting. Luckily, Saki seemed to have laughed it off instead.

"Metaphorically." He made sure to add that at the end.

"Ahaha, I know... I'm just kidding," Saki said, sounding more exhausted by the second.

"C-C'mon, Senpai. There's no need to worry about something like that," Yosuke said, giving a worried laugh as he tried to salvage what he could of the reputation that he was sure Guts had just nuked from orbit.

"Well, my break's just about over. Back to work I go..." Saki sounded less than excited at the prospect of getting back to work. "Laters!" With that, she began walking away.

"Oh, uh, Senpai!" Yosuke said, trying to call her attention back. Failing so, he sat glumly in his seat. "Hahah, Saki-senpai says I'm annoying, but she's even nosier than me," Yosuke says with a smile on his face. "She has a younger brother, and she treats me pretty much the same way..."

"_Ohhh_, you don't want her treating you like a brother, huh?" Chie asked, an evil smirk on her face, "Haha, I get it... So that's how it is..." She then placed the back of her hand on her forehead and struck a melodramatic pose. "The daughter of a local family-run liquor store and the scion of the invading chain... Hoho, the flame of forbidden love!"

"Wha-!? Dude, it's not like that," Yosuke said, his face looking quite red.

"Oh _really_... Well, I know just the thing to cheer up that lovesick heart." Chie then dropped her voice to a whisper, as if afraid of eavesdroppers, "You ever hear of the Midnight Channel? You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night." More and more the story sounded like a bad campfire tale that somehow got popular. "While you're staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen." He wondered about that deal on paper towels. Those always came in handy now that he thought about it. "And they say that person's your soulmate."

"What? For a second, I thought you were actually going to say something useful..." Yosuke said, waving off the urban legend. "How can you get all excited over such a childish urban legend like that?"

"Childish, huh?" Chie asked, offended at the insult. "You don't believe it, do you!?"

"Of course I don't!" Yosuke exclaimed, trying to make his point clear.

"Well, it's raining tonight! Let's all try it out—then you'll see!" Chie challenged. Clearly, she saw something the little fairy tale.

"Try it out? Wait, you haven't even tried it yourself?" Yosuke could not keep himself from face palming as the holes in Chie's story are magnetized since _she hadn't even tried it herself_. "Wow, I'm trying to remember the last time I heard something this stupid." He shook his head, his face darkening out of nowhere. "All that aside... you know that 'incident' yesterday? You guys think it was murder?" His face then broke into a dumb smile. "Ooh, what if the culprit behind it was still lurking around...? Heehee..."

"Sheesh, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that. Now who's the childish one?" Chie huffed, though Guts could see her shiver slightly. Probably from the cold. "All I am saying is, you guys better try it out tonight."

* * *

The dinner table was once again quiet as neither Nanako nor Guts spoke. The rain outside bombarded the sliding door, causing a series of patters to be heard. Guts swiftly ate his food while Nanako seemed distracted for some reason. After finishing meal shortly after getting it, he took his time to observe her mannerisms. She seemed stiff, tense. Like she was afraid that anything she said would have been bad and that she would be punished for it.

"Did Dojima call?" Guts asked, cutting through the silence and tearing Nanako from her thoughts.

"No. He always says he will..." she said sadly. It seemed that lonely nights were a common attraction for the poor girl.

The sound of the door opening shocked the both of them, Nanako is a positive way as she cheered a "He's home!". While Guts shot his head towards the door, not in excitement, but in pure adrenaline, prepared for if it _wasn't_ Dojima. His heart beat softened when he saw that it _was_ Dojima, though.

"What a day..." Dojima remarked, clearly exhausted by the events of his day. "I'm back. Did anything happen while I was out?"

"Ya missed a few episodes of a bad sitcom and the first half of a quiz show. Other than that, you're good," Guts said, listing off what he was forced to sit through as Nanako has permanent control of the remote when Dojima was gone. Something Dojima himself said was true.

"You're late again..." Nanako said, standing up from her spot at the table.

"I'm sorry," Dojima said, "Been busy at work." He then planted himself onto the couch next to the table, his body visibly loosening from the stress of the day. "Can you put the news on for me?"

Nanako did just that, with a saddened expression on her face.

"~_Next, more details in the developing story on the incident in foggy Inaba. Announcer Mayumi Yamano's dead body was found hanging above a house in this isolated rural town. It is confirmed that Ms. Yamano had been involved in an affair with Taro Namatame, husband of enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi.~_"

"_They just rehashing what they already talked about? Ugh._"

"~_The police plan to investigate this relationship and question any personnel involved with them. In addition, we now bring you an exclusive interview with the local student who found Ms. Yamano's body.~_"

"*sigh* An interview with the kid? Where the hell did they find her?" Dojima asked himself.

"~_What went through your mind when you saw it? Could you tell she was dead? Did you see her face? 'U-Umm...'~_"

"_Wait... that uniform seems familiar. Actually, I think I saw her before. Who the hell is she?_"

"~_Don't you think it's scary that someone was killed on a foggy day? 'Huh...? She was killed?' Oh, errr... So did you see anyone suspicious around here? 'No, not really...' We heard that you found it when you left school early. Did you have some personal business to take care of? 'Huh? That's...'~"_

"_That's a one way ticket to earning that microphone up your ass in my book. Why is he so excited about this!? …..Wait... That looks like that one girl Yosuke wants to fuck! Wasn't it Saki-something?_"

The interview abruptly cuts out back to the anchorman.

"~_-a tragedy that occurred near the local shopping district. Many storeowners are raising concerns about losing customers as a result.~_"

"Hmph. If they lose more customers, it'll be because you're making such a stink about it..." Dojima sounded quite bitter towards the broadcast.

Commentators then began their session of looking like they were interested in the case, when in truth they were mentally counting down the seconds until their next paycheck.

"~_It really is a bizarre case, isn't it? I mean, hanging someone upside down from an antenna... 'I'd have to say it's a warning or a sign from the culprit.' __**Yes, but so far, no one has come forward to take credit for the crime.**__~"_

"Loads of prank calls, though..." Dojima interjected.

"~_So the cause of death is still unknown? And they don't have a single suspect yet? Taxpayer's funds are going to a police force who can't even figure out if this is an accident or a homicide?~_"

Dojima gave a tired sigh as the announcement for a commercial break aired.

"~_At Junes, everyday is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Every day's great at your Junes~!~_"

"_I think that jingle is starting to get stuck in my head..._"

"Every day's great at your Junes~!" Nanako sang cheerfully. "Hey Dad... Can we go to Junes together sometime?"

A short grunt from Dojima was all she had for an answer.

"No?" she asked, turning her head to see Dojima's eyes closed and not about to open anytime soon. A loud snore erupted from the aged detective. "*sigh* Geez..."

* * *

Guts found himself sitting on the small couch in his room, hearing the rain assault the windows behind him.

"_What the hell am I doing? Losing a good night's sleep on some dumb ass little myth, that's what._"

He looked to his clock to see that it was almost midnight.

"_Alright. If it doesn't work: kill Chie tomorrow. If it does work: don't admit that you were wrong until Yosuke does."_

He found himself replaying the part that Chie said about 'finding your soulmate'. Of course it wouldn't show his. He was born alone, he'll die alone. That's the way it worked, and he was more than happy to stay that way. Letting people get close brought nothing but pain and trouble.

The TV flickered...

For half a second, he saw something. An image on the screen. It was too quick to know what it was, all he knew was that an image _definitely_ appeared.

"_What the hell?_"

Guts approached the small television, staring into his own reflection. After a few moments of just staring at the face in front of him, he decided that it was his imagination. Nothing more. But right when he turned his back, he heard the sound of static coming from the TV.

He looked back to see the television showing small clips of a girl in what looked like a store, before cutting back to the static.

"_Ah, shit. It does work..._" He knew immediately what the plan was for the next day.

Just then, a lightning strike outside caught him by surprise, enough for him to turn towards the window and see the neighborhood encased in darkness from the clouds.

"_Let my guard down there. Fuckin' bolt of lightning freaked you out, you idiot._"

Just then, a horrible ringing began in his head, a deafening, ear drum bursting, ringing that caused him to put his hands (metal one included) onto his head, trying to ease the pain somehow. Beyond the ring that continued to drill into his skull, he heard a voice. A deep, powerful voice that shook his entire body.

"**~I am thou, and thou art I...~**"

His body was fully shaking at that point, wobbling from one way to the next before finally falling headfirst towards his TV.

While he grit his teeth, readying himself for the hard slam against the screen as well as the bite from the inevitable broken glass, he felt none of that. He opened his eyes, which he did not even realize he closed, to see nothing but a thick yellow fog. He was so shocked he could not even get his mouth to work properly. He just used his arms to push himself against his clothing drawers and get his head out of the _damned television_!

The feeling that he experienced as he pulled himself out was nothing short of strange. It felt as though he was pushing through the surface of water, yet went straight through to the surface again. Unfortunately, he ended up adding too much force to the push and bashed his head against the work table in front of him.

The last thing he heard before passing out was Nanako asking if he was alright.

* * *

Rain poured from the sky, feeling more like gallons of water being spilled across town than the tiny droplets that were the true culprits. Guts had his umbrella open, saving himself and his supplies from being soaked to the core. His thoughts went back to what happened the previous night as he made his way through the flood plain, on the way to school.

He had managed to convince Nanako that he was alright and that he simply dropped onto his futon too hard when he went to bed. It was a good thing Dojima didn't hear the same thing, as that excuse was horribly shallow. Nanako seemed to believe it though. What caught him off guard the most about the whole thing was the voice and the carnivorous television. Chie never mentioned anything about that.

"Perfect timing!" Chie said, coincidentally showing up during his train of thoughts and shoving herself under his umbrella. "Sorry, move over!" she said, trying to balance the space in the umbrella and the distance between them, which seemed to be mere centimeters.

"You don't have an umbrella?" Guts asked, annoyed at the prospect of suddenly having a freeloader seize the free space he once had.

"I did have my own, but I saw this kung fu movie where they used an umbrella to pull off some sweet moves," Chie explained, "And... I accidentally broke mine trying to mimic the movie."

"Isn't that why they put that warning in the beginning of those things?" he asked in vain as Chie took note of something else.

"By the way... did you see it!?" Chie asked excitedly.

"Did you?" Guts asked as a response.

"I did. But the person it showed..." Chie seemed to trail off and looked away from Guts, focusing on a specific pebble on the ground instead. "Never mind. I'll save it for when the others are around. We're gonna be late for school."

"Fine," Guts said. "Better keep up though. Leave ya behind otherwise."

The two walked for a short time, until Chie stopped suddenly.

"Oh... U-Uhh..." was all she could say.

"What? Thought you said we'd be late," the black-haired man asked, frustrated at the girl's bipolar choice with travel.

"I-It's kinda awkward to only bring this up now, but... we're pretty close here..." Chie said, her face turning slightly red as she felt her hand brush past Guts' metallic arm. His right hand being used to hold the umbrella. "U-Um, I'm gonna just go ahead and run the rest of the way!"

"Don't be an idiot," Guts said bluntly, "We're still a couple miles away from school. You'll end up catching something running that distance in the rain." He then noticed that her eyes seemed to glance towards his false arm. "If you're worried about 'offending me' by grazing the hunk of junk of a hand I got, don't," he shrugged, "I don't give a shit."

"Huh...? Are you sure?" Chie asked, uncertain if he was being serious, "If you say so, then... I guess it's okay. Thanks." She beamed at the confirmation that she needn't worry about hitting anything sensitive regarding his injury, something that was beginning to grow theories throughout the school. All the way from 'childhood accident' to 'self-mutilation during a survival scenario'. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

"What's up with the body being hung upside-down? That's so freaky!" Guts heard a short girl telling her friend that was sitting at a desk, the classroom emptying as students went home for the day. Few staying behind to talk to friends or for clubs. He saw Yukiko readying her stuff so she herself could make it out the door, her hands looking rather shaky when he caught a glimpse.

"Is it supposed to be like, mimicking an execution? It's messed up..." The girl at the desk said.

"My senpai told me it was a third-year named Saki who found the body," the short girl said.

He would have heard more if Yosuke had not approached his desk, looking nervous. Not that he minded the distraction. The voices of the two girls' were giving him a headache.

"Y-Yo. Um..." Yosuke started, looking uncertain, "It's, uh, it's not really important, but... Well, yesterday on TV, I..." Yosuke looked increasingly distressed, silently freaking out over something. "Oh, uhh... Never mind. Look, I'll tell you later. Ahaha..."

Chie then walked up to the two, a face that suggested that she had learned something interesting.

"Yosuke, did you hear the rumor?" she asked simply. "Saki-senpai's supposedly the one who discovered that body."

"I wonder if that's why she looked so down," Yosuke said bitterly, "She doesn't seem to be at school today either."

As Yukiko rose from her seat, ready to leave school for the day, Chie called out to her.

"Hey Yukiko, are you helping out at the inn today too?"

"Things are just really out of hand right now... I'm sorry," she said, sounding as exhausted as Saki was to Guts. She then walked out of the classroom, not looking back once.

"Is it just me, or does Yukiko-san seem way stressed out today?" Yosuke asked, noticing the fraying ends that stood out in contrast to the rest of the girl's perfectly straight hair.

I guess they're running her ragged..." Chie said sadly, scratching the top of her head with a hand. "By the way, did you see... it... last night?"

"Huh...?" was all Yosuke said in response. "Uh, well... What about you?"

"I did! I seriously saw a girl!" Chie said, shocking the other two and damn near causing them to have heart attacks. As what they assumed to have been mere dreams or hallucinations appeared to have been accurate events. "But... my soulmate's a girl? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I guess that means you'd like to lick her carpet if you met her," Guts said rudely, pushing into the conversation.

This caused Chie's face to turn bright red and to tighten into a fierce scowl. She then delivered a bone-bending punch to Guts' chest, causing him to double over in his seat and try to catch the breath he suddenly lost. In hindsight, cracking a joke at the expense of a girl that worshiped kung-fu movies and trained constantly in martial arts wasn't such a good plan.

"**I. Like. Guys**_._" Was all she said, her voice sounding restrained from what she truly wanted to use. "Anyways, I couldn't quite tell who it was, but it was a girl for sure," she continued, her voice sounding less pissed off than before, "Her hair was brown, about shoulder length. She was wearing our school uniform, and..."

"It looked like she was in some kinda store?" Guts asked, rubbing the spot slightly above his heart where she punched.

"Yeah! How'd you know?" Chie asked, surprised that he knew something about the image she saw last night.

"Hey... I think that's the same person I saw," Yosuke said, remembering those exact details from his own vision the previous night. "I couldn't make out that much detail though. The image I saw was much blurrier..."

"Wait, so you saw it too!?" Chie asked, practically screaming. "And we saw the same girl...? Does that mean... we have the same soulmate?"

"How the fuck does that work?" Guts inquired, scratching the back of his neck with his metal hand.

"How should I know?" Yosuke rhetorically asked, waving his hands in the air.

"I guess you saw it too, 'cause you saw the store in the image," Chie assumed.

"Yeah. I saw it. How'd you guys deal with that weird voice or the hungry TV?" Guts asked.

The other two merely looked at him, having no idea what he was talking about beyond the girl on the Midnight Channel.

"It sounds like we all saw the same person..." Yosuke said, placing his thumb on the bottom of his chin, thinking about what it could have meant. "But weird voices aside, what was that about getting sucked into your TV...?"

"_Great, they don't believe me. Guess it didn't happen to them. Then what was that weird shit last night? I thought that was part of the legend that no one told me about..._"

"Were you that tired last night? You must've just fallen asleep in front of your TV," the brown-haired male said, writing off the strange occurrence as mere mental exhaustion. The big guy had a long day. Asking him to stay up til midnight after dealing with King Moron and the shock of a murder sounded pretty cruel.

"That'd be one interesting dream, though," Chie said, trying to keep in her laughter for the sake of conversation. "I like the part where you got stuck 'cause your TV was too small. That's pretty realistic." She could not help but let a few snickers out as she spoke. "If it had been bigger-. Ohhh! That reminds me. Our family's been talking about buying a bigger TV."

"Oh yeah? Well, flatscreen TVs are definitely in these days," Yosuke said, his inner salesman rearing its head after the mention of purchasing a large and expensive item. "Wanna go check 'em out on the way back? We're beefing up our electronics department this month."

"Oh, definitely!" Chie said, hyped up from the idea of buying a large and flashy new television, "My parents don't know anything about electronics, and I've just gotta see my kung-fu movies on the big screen!" She then struck a pose, as if about to deliver a kick. "Hwa-taaaa!"

"We've got some pretty big ones in stock," Yosuke offered to Guts, "I bet they'd be big enough for you to fit into, hehe."

"Shut up before I strangle you with those headphones," Guts threatened, a sneer on his face as he grabbed Yosuke's shirt collar.

"*gulp* Y-Yes, sir!"

* * *

The Junes Electronics department showcased a large number of... electronics. Televisions, big and small, all the way down to cables for computers, and everything in between. It seemed that if it was a piece of hardware, it was in the department the three students found themselves in. The TVs were what they were looking at though, specifically one gigantic one that dwarfed the others around it.

"Wow, this is huge! And... Holy crap, it's expensive! Who buys something like this?" Chie asked hopelessly after seeing the price-tag that would have made even small fortune owner's faint.

"I dunno... Rich folks?" Yosuke offered simply, "Honestly, not many people shop for TVs here. That's why we don't have clerks around."

"Huh... Not worth trying then, I guess. Well, at least looking's free," Chie said optimistically.

Guts then saw the two approach the television and press their hands on the screen, lightly pushing against it.

"Nope, can't get in. Figures," Yosuke said, giving a shrug.

"Haha, this proves it. It was all just a dream," Chie chuckled.

"_I am going to kill them. Slowly and painfully..._"

"Besides, these flat-screen TVs are so thin, you'd just end up on the other side- Argh, what am I saying?" Yosuke pinched his nose with two fingers before shaking the thoughts from his head. "So, Chie. What kind of TV are you guys in the market for?"

"They said they wanted one that's cheap. You got any suggestions?"

The two walked away from the television they were previously looking at, checking out a smaller one a short distance away.

"Well, Miss, might I suggest this one over here? It's the newest model, just released this spring," Yosuke advertised, trying to woo Chie into buying the device.

"Wha—that's not cheap at all! There's way too many zeroes!"

Chie was not wooed.

"I should've asked what you meant by 'cheap' right off the bat..." Yosuke muttered.

"You've got connections, right? C'mon, hook me up!" Chie practically pleaded.

Alright, there are some old display models laying around here somewhere," Yosuke said, trying to save his sale, "I think they left them over there..."

With that, the two left eyesight of Guts, who was still staring into the giant screen in front of him.

"_Did I really imagine it all? I must be losing my fucking mind..._"

He had to know. Just two seconds and he could drop all this shit and get his head straight.

Guts skulked closer to the TV in front of him, hesitating with every step. If he was right: he would show Chie and Yosuke and he'd know that he wasn't going crazy. If he was wrong: he'd admit that he sounded like a jackass and they'd all forget about it.

He placed his hand onto the screen...

* * *

As Chie and Yosuke checked out a few 'bargain bin' models that were being replaced with newer models, a thought popped into Yosuke's mind.

"I should ask Guts what kind of TV he would like," he ended up saying aloud.

"Pfft, you really think you can sell him one of these things?" Chie sarcastically asked, "I feel like my bank account is draining money just looking at these things!" She glanced at the 'cheapest television they had', still well beyond her price range. "Besides, Guts doesn't look like a guy who watches a lot of TV."

"What do ya mean?" Yosuke wondered, trying to get what she was saying.

"Well... You know...!" Chie started, but seemed to refuse to finish.

"What?"

"The guy looks like he works out 24/7!" Chie said, seeming to admit something that she wasn't saying.

"Wait... Chie, were you-!?"

"Let's go see," Chie said, her face red, "We kinda ditched him anyway."

The two made their way back to the gigantic television, where they last saw Guts. However, when they got there, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh, where'd he go?" Yosuke asked, looking around to try to catch a glimpse of him. Not that he'd be that hard to find now that he thought about it.

"You think he went home?" Chie asked, worried that they upset him about the 'entering the TV' thing.

"Maybe," Yosuke said, crossing his arms across his chest, "He looked pretty tired all day. He's still getting used to town, so he probably had a busy week and needed some rest."

"Maybe..." Chie said worriedly.

* * *

Fog. That was all he saw when he regained consciousness. A thick, yellow fog that seemed to constrict his lungs as well as his vision. Something about it felt... _wrong_.

"Where the hell am I...?" Guts asked himself, trying to get back on his feet. His body felt like it lost all the strength in his muscles, leaving him scrambling to get back up. Each limb felt like they weighed a ton of bricks, with an anvil placed on top for good measure.

When he finally got up and looked around, he saw that he _was_ somewhere. It looked like a demented TV show studio, with the floor showing a black and red spiral with what looked like the victim outlines from a murder crime-scene. The fog was so thick that he could barely make out the scaffolding lining the place in front of him.

"This sure isn't Junes, that's for sure..." He was still in shock at what had just happened. He placed his hand onto the television screen and was _sucked in_. It happened so fast that he could only see a blur when he played it back in his head. Now he was in some fuc-

"ARGGH!" Guts screamed as he doubled over in pain, a sharp agonizing pain coming from his neck. It ran the risk of knocking him back into unconsciousness all over again. But it was also so horrible that he couldn't black out, the pain growing worse and worse by the second.

"WHAT... THE... FU-!*gasp*" Guts found his ability to breathe was being paralyzed by the agony, added to the difficulty the strange fog created. It was so bad that he finally lost his cool, vomiting on the ground below him. Though he looked down to see it was much redder than what he wanted it to be, the thick smell of copper and sick making him woozy.

The pain felt more specific at that point, focusing into what felt like a cutting pain than a widespread wall that crashed into him. He found the willpower to place his right hand on the spot the pain was most definite, a small point on the back of his neck. He moved his hand back to see blood coming from that spot. Something was being _carved_ into that point of his neck. He fought to stay awake, to get up and find a way out of that hellish place. Hell... That's what it was.

But just as soon as it arrived, the pain vanished, leaving Guts gasping for breath with his hand over the spot the pain focused on. Sweat poured from his body, as Guts used most if not all of his strength to stay awake during the ordeal. His uniform was soaked to the skin, only with his sweat instead of rain water, like he expected to happen that day. He woke up that morning feeling like that day was not going to be his best.

"What*gasp*the*gasp*fuck*gasp*was that about?" he asked, voicing his thoughts.

"_**Sacrifice...**_" He heard a menacing voice whisper behind him.

He turned his body, trying to find who said it, but it was in vain as he saw nothing but the fog.

"_**Sacrifice... Lie... Shield from truth...**_" He heard more than one voice say. And it sounded like they were getting closer.

"Who's out there!?" Guts shouted into the fog, "Come on out, you pussies!"

He saw something move in the fog. For half a moment, he could've sworn that he saw something _slither_ across the ground in front of him.

"Come on!" he continued shouting, "I'll rip you to pieces!"

That's when he saw it... A black gelatinous figure with a mask on its face. It had two claw-like appendages, constantly shifting with the movement of its body between long and short. The creature made its way towards Guts, sliding across the ground and leaving a trail of black oily slime behind it. Guts could not find the words to describe how he felt. Terrified of the unknown beast? Enraged that fear was getting the best of him? Hatred, as he mentally pinned the agonizing pain he felt earlier on the monster? Adrenaline-induced excitement? All of the above?

All he knew was that the monster in front of him was still saying the same words over and over again.

"_**Sacrifice... Lie... Shield from truth.**_" It repeated over and over again. No matter what Guts screamed as an insult, the monster repeated its statement with that rasping monotone voice it seemed to have.

The monster was now at his feet, its claws digging into his leg. He felt an icy chill run up his leg along with the sting of his skin being clawed open. He saw fresh red blood begin to pour out of his leg, covering the beast below him.

"ARGH!" Guts screamed, raising his leg and aiming his foot at the monster's mask. "FUCK YOU!" he screamed, dropping the foot onto the creature's mask over and over again.

"FUCK YOU!"

**Crack!**

"FUCK YOU!"

**Crack!**

"JUST!"

**Crack!**

"FUCKING!"

**Crack!**

"**DIE**!"

**CRACK!**

With the final drop of his foot onto the monster, its mask split open, sending slime flying everywhere as the monster gave a high-pitched shriek. The ooze covered Guts head to toe, leaving no piece of his uniform clean from the aftermath. The monster laid limply on the ground before dissolving away, leaving no trace of its existence.

"*gasp* Yeah... That's how it's done!" Guts screamed giving a wide smirk that showed his teeth. Whatever was out in that fog, he could kill it.

"D-Did y-you get the Shadow, Mister?" Another mysterious voice asked, this one sounding like it came from an actual person.

"Alright, where are you?" he asked, showing that he was _not _ in the mood to be played with at the moment.

He got his answer when a strange bear appeared from the fog. It looked like a bad mascot, it having blue fur and red and white jumpsuit-like clothing. He could see an obvious zipper connecting the head with the rest of the body. Though, it looked like its face was in a worried expression, something that was weird as it looked like a costume of some kind.

"What are you doing in that stupid bear suit?" Guts asked, confused and at his limit with the strange place he was in.

"That's mean! This is what I am!" It screamed, its lips and face _clearly moving_ as it talked. "How would you like it if I asked what you were doing in that stupid man-costume!?"

"I'd kick your ass until you wouldn't be able to tell which end gets the honey," Guts said, crossing his arms.

"Ah!" The strange bear screamed terrified that Guts may have been serious, "I'm sorry, alright! It's just that the Shadows have been acting funny all day, and someone keeps throwing people in here! I've just been pretty stressed out lately, _please don't hurt me!_" The bear bawled as begged for mercy.

"Wait. What did you say?" Guts asked, noticing something it had just said.

"I said, _'_I've been pretty stressed-."

"No, you idiot! Before that!" Guts basically growled at the bear, his patience at its end.

"S-Someone's been throwing people in here... It keeps making everything get so hectic..." The bear said sadly. It then saw how Guts was all alone in the fog, trying to get answers. "Is that what happened to you?"

"No, I... sorta fell in..." Guts explained, trying to put the strange experience into words.

"Look, if I let you out, will you promise to never come back here?" The bear asked, "When you showed up, the Shadows got extra mad! More so than usual!"

"Don't need to tell me twice," Guts answered. "This place gives me the creeps."

"Alrighty then!" The bear cheered, an innocent smile on its face. "One exit, coming right up!"

The bear clapped its hands and summoned a small television, one of those you would see in the 1950's, with the antenna and dials and everything.

One question went through Guts' mind.

"How the fuck am I supposed to fit in there?"

Teddie gave him no choice as he felt a push from behind, falling through the TV.

* * *

Guts awoke in the Junes Electronics department, him laying on the floor.

"Ah, damn," he said, trying to stretch out his limbs, "That TV was a tight fit..."

"So what's the magician's secret?" He heard a familiar voice ask, turning around to see Yosuke, who had a bemused look.

"What are you talking about?" Guts asked, his body feeling twenty times heavier than it should've.

"Dude, me and Chie have been looking all over for you!" Yosuke exclaimed, "We came back to the TV you were brooding in front of and you were gone without a trace."

"Yeah... Sorry," He had to think of a good excuse. No way he would believe the story about the creature and the bear. He was having difficulty believing it himself, and it all happened to him moments ago! "I decided to look around and I forgot where it was at."

"That doesn't explain the _six hours_ you have been gone for, dude!"

"_Six hours? How long was I in there? It must've been when I got knocked out on the way there._"

"I got _really_ lost," Guts lied simply.

"Alright, whatever you say man..." Yosuke sighed, admitting defeat as he was too tired to try to argue with the obvious lie in front of him. "Listen, the store's about to close. You gotta get going."

"Yeah. I'm gonna head home for the night," Guts said, feeling a heavy weight press down on him. Whatever that place was, it made him feel like hammered shit.

* * *

As Guts walked into the living room, he saw Dojima and Nanako sitting at the table in front of the TV, both with a bowl of instant noodles.

"Hey, welcome home," Dojima said, looking to Guts when he saw him.

Guts sat at the table with them, feeling that weight press harder onto him. Oddly, he saw that his clothes were perfectly intact and dry from the events of the day. He expected to see tears on the legs and slime coating his body, but none of that was there.

"Uh—Hmm... Well, I doubt you'd know..." Dojima began, seeming watchful of his next words.

"Know what?" Guts asked, placing his fingertips against the side of his head to ease the pain of a passing headache. That place went from making him feel like hammered shit to making him feel like he was about to die, the effects only getting worse as time went on.

"Have you heard anything about a student named Saki Konishi?" He stated his question bluntly, not willing to dance around the issue.

"Yeah, she discovered the body," Guts answered casually.

"Yeah, it's true..." Dojima said solemnly, lowering his head to face the table. "To be honest... we got a call from her family. She's disappeared. We've got people looking for her, but she hasn't been found yet..." He gave a deep sigh. "Work just keeps piling up..."

The news began to talk of the case again.

"~_And now, more on the case still casting a shadow over the foggy town of Inaba. Not long ago, a television announcer Mayumi Yamano was found dead in the small town. Up until now, her whereabouts prior to her death had been unknown. But the police investigation has found that she had been staying in the region's famous Amagi Inn.~_"

"_Amagi? Isn't that Yukiko's last name?_"

"~_She had apparently been staying there alone. Perhaps she was taking a vacation to recover from her ordeal...? 'Oh yes, the Amagi Inn! Their hot springs are first-rate. The manager's teenage daughter also works there, and it's rumored that she'll take over the inn this spring. If that happens, she'll be one of the youngest managers on record! I should book another trip there!' Uhh... I-I see... Moving along, it's time for the weather report. The rain has begun to subside. From now until morning, heavy fog warnings will be in effect in the Inaba region. Visibility will be severely reduced, so please be careful if you plan on driving in the area...~_"

"_So the announcer stayed at Yukiko's place before she croaked? And Konishi, who found the body, is missing... Something tells me all Hell is about to break loose..._"

"Is the ramen ready now?" Nanako asked innocently.

"Give it some more time," Dojima calmly said.

"I'm heading to bed," Guts announced, getting up from the table.

"You're not staying to eat?" Dojima asked, wondering why he was already turning in for the night.

"Not hungry."

* * *

Guts walked down the stairs, seeing Dojima walking out the door. Dojima turned his head to see him and announced that he was leaving. He was already gone before Guts could ask what it was about.

"Dad has to go do something. He got a call, so he left," Nanako explained to her confused cousin. He saw a worried look on her face as he himself left.

* * *

Later, when he was passing the floodplains, he heard two girls gossiping as he passed by.

"When I looked, I saw three police cars zooming by," a girl with a red umbrella said.

"You live by the police station, don't you? Did you hear anything?" her friend with a white umbrella asked.

"I heard some yelling, but nothing more. Total disappointment," the red umbrella girl admitted.

"Geez, you need to pay more attention to stuff like that. How else are we supposed to get the juicy stories?"

The sound of sirens rang through the air, suffocating everything else. A cold feeling swelled up in Guts' stomach.

"_Something really bad happened._"

* * *

The auditorium was cramped with students, the entire school jammed into a tiny room. Guts could hear students talking about the rumor about Saki finding the body, reasons for why they were there, and Saki's disappearance. Guts stood alone in the crowd, unable to find Yosuke, Chie, or even Yukiko anywhere. Even if he didn't call them 'friends' they were definitely interesting to talk to.

Guts stood for what felt like years, the assembly taking an eternity to begin. More and more he felt that cold feeling in his gut. Like a snowball in the middle of his stomach at that point. Whatever it was that they were called for, it couldn't have been good.

"Everyone, please settle down," Ms. Sofue, the history teacher obsessed with the ancient Egyptians to the point that she carried a dowsing rod and wore a Pharaoh headpiece constantly, announced. "The school assembly is about to begin."

The entire room went silent, as ordered.

"First, the Principal has something to say." With that, she relinquished control of her podium to the elderly man with the long white beard and flowing robes.

"I... regret to say that I have a terrible announcement for all of you," the Principal said, sounding as if he was about to say that someone died. "One of our third-year students, Ms. Saki Konishi of Class 3 has passed away."

The entire room was filled with gasps and horrified expressions at the news. A student _died_? How? What happened? These questions filled the air as the Principal went on.

"Ms. Konishi was found deceased early this morning," the Principal said, soldiering on, "The reasons behind her passing are currently under investigation by the police. If they ask you for your cooperation, I urge you, as students of this school, to provide only the facts."

The room was filled with shocked and confused conversations, all yearning for some clarity on what the hell happened. It may have been his imagination, but Guts could have sworn that he felt like someone was watching him.

"All right, please quiet down..." the Principal ordered, trying to get the crowd under control. "I have been assured by the faculty that there's no evidence that bullying was involved in the incident. So mind what you say, not only to the police, but anyone who asks..."

That feeling in his stomach was right on the money. Something bad _did_ happen. Only, it didn't go away. If anything, it felt even colder. What could possibly have been worse than a fellow student dy- Why was everyone looking at him?

Guts noticed a large amount of students glaring at him, like they were _suspicious_ of him. They didn't actually think that he did it, did they?

"**You did it! You killed her, you son of a bitch!**" Guts heard a voice in the crowd yell at him.

"_Aw, fuck me._"

* * *

_Next time..._

"_I didn't kill her!"_

"_The Shadows! They're coming!"_

"_I knew this was a bad idea!"_

"_No... YOU'RE NOT ME!"_

* * *

_A/N_

Hello, internet. It is Plague again. I found the niche I wanted to use to make the story more interesting... Okay, more than one. But you only get to see one for now.


	3. Welcome to Inaba: Enjoy your stay!

The school's art room served as a serviceable hiding spot for Guts as he waited for the crowd searching for him to pass. He knew that fighting his way out of the auditorium wouldn't serve his agenda of proving that he wasn't involved in Saki's death, so he did the only thing he could do.

He ran away.

He ran into the school's practice building, a small mob following behind him, yearning for some vigilante justice. He took shelter in the art room, knowing that they wouldn't look there. Sometimes he was thankful for his reputation as the 'tough guy' as they thought that he wouldn't step foot in that room even if you paid him.

The room was empty, used art supplies lying around everywhere. But what caught his attention most was the half sewn penguin plushie sitting on one of the tables in front of him, its quality looking damn near professional level. But what caught his attention more so was the name stitched onto it.

'_Kanji Tatsumi._'

"Who th' hell're you!?" Guts heard a voice shout behind him, sounding angry. He turned around to see a male student around his height, his 6'3 but the student in front of him seemed an inch or two shorter, with blonde hair that looked dyed. He noticed the nose ring and the skull t-shirt that he was wearing under his uniform coat, which was open and sitting on his shoulders without his arms in the sleeves.

"Guts. Now I might ask you the same question, asshole," Guts grit his teeth and gave a sneer towards the student. He felt like such an idiot. Of course people used the room! How could he have been so stupid!?

The student saw the plushie behind Guts and immediately went pale. Something about it made him scared out of his mind.

"I-I ain't nobody!" he shouted loudly. "Now what do you think you're doin' here!?"

"I had to hide out for a little bit," Guts explained simply.

"Hide from what?" the other asked, confused.

"Wait... Were you at the assembly this morning?" Guts asked. How could he have not known that a mob was out for his head? The Principal barely managed to get the rest of the school from trying to rip him to pieces when they started accusing him. When he found whoever shouted that he did it, he was gonna tear their legs off.

"Nah. I slept in," the student said, shrugging, "Didn't get here til a few minutes ago."

"Well half the school thinks I killed the Konishi girl," Guts admitted. If he tried anything stupid, he would be able to deal with one moron in an empty room filled with sharp sewing needles and blinding paints.

"Oh shit. Konishi-senpai?" the student asked shocked, his jaw almost hitting the floor.

"Yeah, you know her?" Guts asked calmly.

"I know her little brother, we're in the same grade and all," the other said, scratching his neck with his hand, "Anyway, why do they you killed her?"

"Guess because I showed up when the announcer died," the darker haired of the two hypothesized, "That and I don't seem like a guy you'd walk into a dark alley with at first glance."

"Tch, I know how it is," the other sympathized, "People judgin' you before they know ya. Sayin' you did things because you're an easy target to pin things on." The student's eyes drifted to the penguin on the table again, his look seeming more sorrowful than fearful. He then raised his hand, seeming like a peace offering.

"Kanji Tatsumi," he said calmly, waiting for Guts to exchange handshakes, which the other accepted.

"So you're the guy who sewed that thing?" Guts asked, gesturing towards the penguin with his fake hand.

"Y-Yeah. What about it?" Kanji asked, looking embarrassed but trying to keep his composure.

"Nothing, forget I said anything," Guts said, waving off the subject. Last thing he needed was to find out the guy in front of him was gay. He didn't swing that way and wasn't willing to risk being hit on by some guy trying to be masculine.

"Look, I just met you, but you seem like a decent guy," Kanji said politely. "I'll try to draw the mob away from the exit so you can get out of the school, if you want."

"Thanks, but... Why?" Guts was confused as to why he was so willing to help out a guy he had just met a few minutes earlier.

"Dudes like us gotta stick together," was all he said, pounding a fist onto his chest and giving a cocky smile.

Just as Kanji marched out, planning to draw the attention of the mob for the sake of a guy he had just met, Guts noticed something fall out of his pocket. He crouched down to pick it up and saw that it was a small, pink, bunny cellphone strap.

"_God... That guy loves stupid cute shit..._"

Feeling that he would see him later, he put the strap in his coat pocket.

* * *

True to his word, Kanji seemed to had lead away the mob that was after Guts, and just about all the other students too. The halls were dead empty, not a soul to be found as Guts made his way to the entrance.

"Hey," he heard a voice call behind him. He turned to see Yosuke standing with Chie, both staring coldly at him.

"Hey," Guts said simply. He saw that tears were drying against Yosuke's face, some seeming fresher than others.

"Where did you go yesterday?" Chie asked, her voice partially stained by rage. "Where were you?"

"I didn't kill her." That was all Guts said, shaking his head.

"_Where did you go?"_ Yosuke insisted, his anger less subtle than Chie's. "You went missing for hours and just showed up out of nowhere. Then Saki-senpai went missing. Where did you go!?"

"I didn't kill her!" He found himself repeating, his own rage building. Those idiots were busy keeping him from actually finding out who did it! But it wasn't like he could tell them what happened the previous day. 'I went to weird foggy world and met a bear after I killed some blob with a fucked up mask!' A statement that would've led him to wearing a straight-jacket for the rest of his life. And the minute that he brought up how he killed the monster, they would think that he meant Saki in some psychotic, cryptic term.

"Alright, if you didn't do it, who did?" Chie asked impatiently. She felt betrayed. She and Yosuke trusted that guy! Sure, he was an asshole when he wanted to be, but he didn't seem capable of killing a girl he just met!

"I don't know," Guts admitted. "That's what I'm trying to find out myself."

"You think you can just say you didn't do it and expect us to believe you!?" Yosuke asked, enraged. He wanted to know why Guts killed her. She was a good person and didn't deserve to die! And that _monster_ killed her and hung her like a spectacle!

"Listen. If we get to a TV somewhere, I can show you where I went yesterday," Guts finally said, giving a long sigh.

"Junes then," Yosuke said coldly, "Too many witnesses if you try to kill us too..."

Guts shrugged off the insult, but saw Chie holding her cellphone tight in her hand.

"Insurance." Was all she said.

* * *

They were back at the Junes Electronics department, standing in front of the giant television they were staring into the day before. Guts approached the TV slowly before turning back to face the two.

"Are you serious?" Yosuke asked. "We are _not_ in the mood for dumb jokes!"

That was before Guts slid his right arm into the screen.

"I-Is his arm... in the TV...?" Was the new question Yosuke asked, now with his anger replaced with pure shock.

"Whoa..." Chie said in pure disbelief, "Uhhh... Is that some kinda... new model? L-Like with a new function?"

"Hell no!" Yosuke screamed.

"I told you that this actually happened!" Guts said, pride making its way into his tone.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Chie said as she placed her palm to her forehead. "Did you really stick your hand through the screen?"

"Oh man...This is for real... That's some magic trick, man!" Yosuke said in disbelief. "So how's it work, huh!? What's the magician's secret!?"

"Wait. Didn't you say that before?" Guts could have sworn that he heard Yosuke ask that question before.

Since his focus was lost, he felt his arm get pulled by a strong force, now consuming his shoulder and threatening his head. He felt another strong pull that manage to put his entire upper half into the screen. He saw the familiar fog once again and felt the effects immediately. His breathing was getting hard to control and his head was pounding. He heard Chie and Yosuke through the screen.

"H-Hey, don't do that! What're you doing!?" Yosuke asked, terrified at what was happening.

"Oh my God!" Was all Chie said.

"Nothing but fog and empty space," Guts told them simply.

"Wh-What do you mean, 'inside'!?" Yosuke yelled, wanting to know what the hell was going on!

"Wh-What do you mean, 'empty space'!?" Chie was much the same.

Guts was fighting another pull, his arms tightly gripping the sides of the television and trying their best to hang on for dear life.

"It's definitely spacious in here..." he remarked aloud, noticing how far the fog seemed to stretch.

"Wh-What do you mean, 'spacious'!?" Yosuke yelled once again, keeping the same tone.

"I mean, what's going on!?" Chie shierked.

"Holy crap... I-I think this is all too much for my bladder..." Yosuke said hopelessly. Guts could hear his shoes tapping against the linoleum floor, showing that he was practically dancing trying to hold it in.

"What the-? Are you gonna pee your pants!?" Chie asked in disbelief. They had their friend halfway in a television and Yosuke was focused on not pissing himself!?

"I've been holding it in all day! I-I haven't had a chance to go..." Yosuke explained, his voice straining. "Aaarrgh! Can't... hold it... anymore...!" Guts heard Yosuke run off and immediately run back. "SHIT! Customers! They're coming!"

"What!?" Chie screamed, "But we've got a guy half stuck in the TV here! Wh-What're we gonna do!?"

Guts could hear the two panicking, running around like headless chickens.

"Hey! Watch it!" he barked at them. "I'm barely hanging on as it i—AH!" He was interrupted when the two smacked into his back, sending them all through the screen.

* * *

The fog was all consuming, draining their visibility to near zero. They were at the demented studio Guts was at the day before.

"So... uh... we're still alive... Right?" Chie asked, uncertain as to what had just happened.

"Yeah," Guts said, watching the two like a hawk. "You guys good?"

"I think my butt's cracked now..." Yosuke said, rubbing the aforementioned area.

"Of course it is!" Chie said, frustrated at her friend.

"So none of you guys are hurt?" Guts asked, confused. "No serious pain anywhere?" Why weren't they feeling that jackhammer agony that nearly knocked him out cold he felt moments after he awoke?

"I think I landed on my wallet..." Yosuke whined.

"Okay," Guts said calmly. "So if the two are you alright, will you please GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!?" he shouted to the two who were laying on top of his chest after they landed on their friend during the fall into the studio.

The shout caused Yosuke to immediately jump to his feet, shaking like a leaf. Chie did the same, but her face seemed much redder than her friend's.

Yosuke looked around at the surrounding area, seeing nothing but the fog.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Wh-What now!?" Chie asked in panic. "Did you wet your pants!?"

"No, stupid! Look around!"

The two saw the studio, the fog actually seeming lighter than before. They saw the scaffolding supporting the structure and the spiral with the outlines of the people on the ground.

"Is this... a studio?" Chie asked in disbelief. "All this fog... Or is it smoke?" She waved a hand, trying to clear away enough fog to properly see. "There's no place like this in Inaba, is there...?"

"Hell no..." Yosuke said in awe, taking in everything around him. "But man... this place is huge..."

"What're we gonna do...?" Chie asked, yearning for a plan.

"We gotta look around," Guts said. He needed to find the bear. It could tell them that he was there the day before. That'll get them to believe him.

"Huh? B-But..." Chie looked as if she was about to argue, "Look, we need to get home and-!" She stopped when she looked around for an exit. "H-Huh...? Wait a minute... Which way did we come in from?" Chie asked hopelessly. "I don't see a way in... or out!"

"What?" Yosuke asked in disbelief. "That can't be right! H-How could that be!?"

"I don't know! Don't ask me!" Chie screamed. "I can't take this anymore! I wanna go home!"

"Okay... so how!?" Yosuke screamed back.

"Guys, _shut the fuck up_!" Guts told them bluntly. "There are things hiding in the fog, so we gotta be quiet."

"Y-You're ri-," Yosuke started, a lump forming in his throat. "W-Wait. Wh-What things!?"

"Weird blobs with masks," he explained, looking around through the fog, "You'll know when you see one."

"Ho-How do _you_ know!?" Chie screamed, looking around in the fog for any of the monsters Guts said was in there.

"You wanna know where I was yesterday?" Guts asked. "It was here." He emphasized the statement by pointing his finger towards the ground.

"Okay... okay," Yosuke said, trying to keep his cool. "We believe you now. Let's calm down and think about this."

The three did just that, staying silent and attempting to sort out everything they had just dealt with.

"All right, so we need to find a way out," Yosuke said. He then turned to Guts. "So where's an exit we can use?"

"I don't know," Guts admitted, looking towards the ground.

"What are you talking about?" Chie asked. "You got out of here once before, right!?"

"That's because I found the bear," Guts said, placing his only palm against his face.

"Bear?" The other two asked as they had no idea what he was talking about.

"There was this weird bear that showed up out of nowhere. He made an exit I could use and shoved me through it," Guts explained.

"All right," Yosuke said, trying to swallow any drop of hope there was, "so all we gotta do is find a bear and we'll be able to make it out of here? Doesn't sound too hard."

They then looked around in the fog, which was so thick that a knife wouldn't even be able to dent it.

"Yosuke... remind me to kick your ass later," said Chie and Guts at the same time.

* * *

After what felt like days wandering around in the fog, they found themselves somewhere different from the place they were at before, which Chie gave a remark about.

The fog heavily obstructed their vision, but they seemed to have been on some kind of wooden balcony. They could see the 'sky' above when they looked upwards, past the guard railing. The 'sky' was a series of thick black and red rings, pulsating one after the other.

"It looks like we're in some kinda building, but... Damn, this fog's so thick, I can hardly see," Yosuke said, rubbing his eyes.

"Are you sure we're not wandering farther away?" Chie asked, unsure of where they were and if they could have been able to make back to the weird studio they started in.

"I can't be positive," Yosuke said, "but we've gotta trust our instinct a little."

"I know, but..." Chie trailed off.

"Look, we don't have a choice in the matter," Guts reasoned, "We either try to find the bear or another exit or we die."

They walked forward, towards a strange door with the same pulsating rings of red and black the sky had. Strangely, it vanished when they approached. Revealing what looked like the room to an inn.

"Hey, is it me or is the fog lighter here?" Yosuke asked, looking around the room with clearer vision. He pulled out his cellphone, checking the signal status. "No service. What a surprise..."

"Can't you guys slow down a little?" Chie complained. "It's hard enough to see where you're going..." The group then looked around at the room, shocked at what they saw. "Huh? What the...!?"

It was small, quaint, and covered in blood. The walls were splattered with buckets of the red stuff, torn posters made up what the blood didn't get. But what was most disturbing was the chair in the middle of the room, just under a noose tied with a red scarf.

"It's a dead end!" Chie noticed another detail about the room. "There's no exit!"

"It keeps getting creepier and creepier the further we go..." Yosuke said, visibly shivering as he looked around the room. Suddenly, a familiar sensation struck him. "Aargh! I can't hold it any longer!" He began dancing once again. "My bladder's gonna explode!" He then ran to the wall, the sound of his zipper flooded the ears of his friends.

"Yosuke!? What're you doing!?" Chie demanded to know.

"I gotta let it out before I piss my pants!" Yosuke strained to say.

"You're going here!?" Chie screamed, putting her hands on her hips and turning away. "Oh, you got to be kidding..."

The silence seemed to permeate through the room. The wait for Yosuke to finish seemed to last for centuries, each second feeling like years.

"T-Turn around! I can't go if everyone's watching!" Yosuke begged.

"Damn it, Hanamura!" Guts yelled, "If you don't piss and get your ass back over here, I'll punch you in the kidneys and _make_ you go!"

Yosuke whimpered at the threat, thinking that Guts would actually do it. Finally, after a few more seconds, he gave up.

"Aaaaargh... I can't do it!" Yosuke said, slouching his shoulders and rezipping his belt. "It's all your fault if my bladder bursts!"

"Like I care..." Chie said as her response. Something about the way she said it made it seem like she didn't care.

Yosuke turned around towards to the group, giving Chie a nasty glare.

"Anyways," Chie said, "what's with this room? Check out these posters," she then walked up to one of the said posters, its face was torn out. "Their faces are all cut out..." She saw the rough way it was torn, almost by someone with a grudge. "Someone must really hate this person..."

Yosuke saw the chair and noose, approaching it slowly.

"Dude," he said in mild horror, "this chair and rope... That kind of arrangement is never good..." He took a good look at the noose itself, seeing the red cloth. "It's tied in a noose... Is this a scarf?"

"C'mon," Chie urged, feeling less and less comfortable by the second. "Let's get back to where we came from and look somewhere else for an exit."

As they walked out of the room and into the uncertain fog, Yosuke took note of one of the torn posters.

"Hey," he began, "I think I've seen that poster before..."

"Who **cares**!?" Chie argued. "Let's go! I am sick of this place!" She placed a hand on her head. "And I'm not feeling so good..."

"Now that you mention it, me too..." Yosuke said, feeling a slight headache coming on as well.

"_Ah shit. It's happening again..._"

Guts' body felt times too heavy, each muscle getting harder to move.

"Damn it," he swore, biting the inside of his cheek, "we have to find that bear _now._"

"Alright, let's go back," Yosuke offered, "I'm seriously starting to feel sick..."

* * *

The group made their way down the foggy street, somehow feeling familiar. They even began mentally pointing buildings that they thought they knew.

"This is seriously getting freaky," Yosuke said, worried that he might have just seen his house a little ways back.

"Agreed." Guts nodded. More than once he saw buildings that he swore he had seen before. He couldn't think of where, but he knew he saw them once.

"Guys, doesn't this place look like the shopping district?" Chie asked, seeing Marukyu Tofu and Old Man Daidara's, a blacksmith who sells his creations to anyone who is willing to pay for them.

Yosuke looked around, noticing the same places. He also saw the Moel gas station, where he also walked past on the way to school.

"You're right," he said in horror. It may have been a familiar place, but it felt _wrong_. Not just because they were in a world inside of the television, the atmosphere itself felt wrong. Like looking at a picture where someone's smile was too wide.

Suddenly. Guts felt a tingling sensation coming from the right side of his neck. He stopped dead in his tracks and placed his hand onto the spot it was coming from. He pulled it back to reveal blood that was coming from the spot.

"What the...?" Guts asked aloud, staring at the blood on his fingertips.

"D-Dude," Yosuke all but shrieked, "i-is that blood!?"

"_**Sacrifice... Lie... Shield from truth...**_" They all heard a voice say, it sounding raspy and monotone.

Then they saw it.

It was sliding out from the alleyway between the bookstore and Daidara's, slithering across the ground and towards them. It was like Guts had said, a black, gelatinous blob that 'wore' a mask on its face. The mask was small and circular, with a frowning face of the front and constantly shifting due to the movements of the blob.

"WH-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?" Yosuke screamed, sounding like a small girl, when he saw the monster in front of them. He then immediately hid behind Guts and Chie, one looking frustrated and the other similar to Yosuke.

"Don't worry," Guts said, approaching the monster and lifting his leg in the air, ready to destroy it. "They go down easy."

Just as he said that, something strange happened.

The monster split into three other blobs of goo, each with their own masks with the same face. But not only that, but they had contorted into themselves, floating into the air as they evolved into a new form.

The three students stood still in total shock, the monsters were changing into something else!

"What are they doing!?" Chie demanded to know from Guts, who was busy trying to find the answer himself.

The creatures finished transforming, each a black and white striped orb with a large mouth, their massive tongues hanging out and slithering around as they hovered.

The first one went for Chie, giving her a long vertical smack with its tongue. The blow threw her off her feet, knocking her unconscious.

"That thing just slimed Chie!" Yosuke screamed, noticing the residue it left on the girl.

The second came for Yosuke, who fell on his back without even getting hit. He tried scurrying away from the monster, who was coming toward him at a remarkable speed. He covered his face with his hands, wanting to not see what was coming. He mentally prepared for the inevitable pain the creature would make him endure. He felt that that was it, that was where they were going to die. Out of all the places and times he thought of, he never thought that dying from monsters in a world in the television was the way he was going. Speaking of which, that thing was being cruel, taking far too long to just get it over with.

"Hanamura...!" he heard a familiar voice growl at him, "Get off your ass and get you and Chie out of here!"

Yosuke opened his eyes to see Guts' legs in front of him. He looked up to see that Guts came in at the last second and intercepted the beast.

What he also noticed was that Guts' metal arm was literally _in its mouth_!

The creature bit down hard on Guts' arm, trying to devour it. It failed to break the heavy iron that the hand was made of, however, and found itself face to mouth with Guts, who looked rather pissed.

"Are you deaf!?" Guts barked at Yosuke. "I said get the fuck out of here!"

"D-Dude," Yosuke said, noticing the other two coming towards the last standing man, "I can't leave you behind!"

"**You will leave me behind!**" he shouted, "**You'll leave and find that fucking bear!**"

Yosuke saw that he wouldn't be able to convince Guts otherwise, he practically ordered him to run away. Seeing no other option, he picked up Chie into a fireman's carry and ran down the street to the one place he felt would be safest.

"_I have to get to Saki's!_"

The last thing he saw when he turned his head was the two other monsters rushing towards Guts...

* * *

Yosuke carefully placed Chie against one of the shelves filled with various liquors, making sure to not just drop her against it.

"_Damn it... DAMN IT!_" he mentally screamed at himself, "_I left him back there... He was out numbered and I just left him there..._" He began crying into his hands, placed tightly against his eyes. "_I'm such a fucking coward... He was my friend and I... I let him die._"

He sobbed for few minutes, heavy, body shaking sobs that turned made him regret every prejudgment he made about Guts.

"_Oooohhh,_" he heard Chie groan as she regained consciousness. "What happened...?"

"Ch-Chie!" Yosuke cried happily, she was alright! "Thank God you're okay!"

"Y-Yosuke?" Chie said, confused as to why he was so worried about her. She was sure that she saw tears streaming down his cheeks. "Were you crying...?"

Yosuke wiped away a few tears, "A little, yeah."

"What happened?" She looked around to notice the lack of a certain one-armed guy. "Where's Guts?"

The mere mention of his name brought new tears to Yosuke's eyes. She didn't know what happened to him... How he was surrounded by those creatures and ordered Yosuke to run as far as he could. How Yosuke gave in like a coward and ran when he should have stood his ground and fought with him.

"He... he didn't make it..." Was all Yosuke said, lowering his head to the floor and letting tears drip down.

"Wh-What're you talking about?" Chie demanded in disbelief. "Where is he?"

"He's **dead**!" Yosuke shouted, letting sorrow flood his voice. "He's fucking **dead**! Those things came after me and he blocked it and then he told me to take you and run and he... and he...!" Yosuke broke down into another round of sobs, Chie giving a long stare, her lower lip quivering as she took in what she heard.

Chie looked around, seeing various barrels and kegs of alcohol scattered around. She knew the only local liquor store, besides Junes, was Konishi Liquors. That must have been where they were at.

"Yosuke," she began to ask, "why are we at Saki's family's store?"

Yosuke broke out of his sobbing, his eyes red and swollen, and looked to Chie.

He spoke with sniffs littering his speech, trying to calm himself down, "Her(**sniff**)Her dad has a baseball bat behind the(**sniff**)behind the counter." He then walked over and retrieved the item, an old aluminum bat with the paint long faded away, leaving just a gray tube. He knew about it when Saki told him about her family's business once. "We could use a weapon..."

"_If we had one earlier... Guts might've been able to fight them off..._"

He gave the bat a few swings, getting used to the weight and feel of it. He then saw a photograph on the ground.

"Wait... that's the..." He trailed off as he picked it up. It was the photograph that he and Saki had taken at Junes, both giving ridiculous faces to the camera. Only, he was torn out of the photo, which now only showed Saki.

"_**Saki, how many times do I have to tell you!?**_" Yosuke heard an angry voice yell.

"I-Is that... Senpai's dad...?" Yosuke could only guess from the age and informality the voice had, sounding older and using her name with ease.

"_**You know what the neighbors say about you, right!? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You're the eldest daughter of a family who's owned this store for generations! Is it the money? Or did you meet some guy there? Just tell me why you have to work THERE of all places!**_"

"I... I can't believe this..." Yosuke was stunned by what he was hearing. Was her job really causing so many problems? "She seemed like she had fun at work... She never said like this to me..." He crushed the torn photograph in his hand as he made a fist. "You're telling me _this_ was how Senpai really saw things!?"

"_**I... never had the chance to say it...**_" a voice said, this one feminine and familiar.

"Is that... Senpai's voice!?" Yosuke was between shedding tears of joy and running as far as he could from the store. While it was nice to hear her again... she sounded off. Something indescribable, yet obvious.

"_**I always wanted to tell Hana-chan...**_"

"Huh...? Me...?"

"_**...that he was a real pain in the ass!**_"

The words hit Yosuke like a freight train. One after the other.

"_**I was nice to him just because he was the store manager's son, that's all! But he goes and takes it the completely wrong way and gets all enthusiastic! What a dip...**_"

"P-Pain in the ass...?" Yosuke found himself repeating. The mere statement felt like a melting-hot knife in his chest. He just couldn't believe it. Was that how she really felt about her job? About _him_?

"_**Who cares about Junes, anyway? Because of that place, our business if ruined, my parents hate me, the neighbors talk behind my back! I wish everything would just fucking **_**die!**"

This brought Yosuke to his knees, mentally defeated.

"I-It's a lie... This can't be..." It was all a nightmare. It had to be. He would wake up soon and everything would be normal. Saki and Guts would still be alive, she would say that she never thought like that and loved her job, her family would treat her right, Guts and Chie would eat out at the food-court again, and everything would be okay!

"_**That little fuck-stick wouldn't leave me alone**_," Yosuke heard another voice begin, this one sounding extremely deep and masculine. "_**No matter how hard I tried, he would cling to me like a leech, sucking away any peace and quiet I wanted.**_"

"Guts...?" That's all he could say before falling forward onto his hands and knees. He wanted it to stop! Why wouldn't those voices just shut up!?

"_**Every time he forced me to hang out with him, I had to keep my vomit down. Everything he said made me fucking sick to death of him. Hell, the only reason I told him to take his little girlfriend and run was because he wouldn't be in my presence.**_"

Then the voice said something that broke Yosuke completely.

"_**I thought that dying was better than being his friend...**_"

This caused Yosuke to fall completely to the ground. All he could do was mutter to himself that it was all a big lie. They didn't think of him like that. They couldn't have. None of this was real... It was all a fucked up nightmare he couldn't wake up from.

"**It's (**sniff**) so sad,**" he heard another voice said. This one _more _than familiar. "**I feel so sorry for myself,**" it said, everything sounding condescending and sarcastic, "**Boo hoo...**"

Yosuke shot his head up to see another him a few feet in front of him, this one with a cruel smirk and his arms crossed over his chest. It had a smokey aura of dark blue around it, mixed with the bright yellow eyes it looked quite disturbing.

"**Actually,**" the other Yosuke said, "**I'm the one who thinks everything's a pain in the ass. Hahaha...**"

Chie, still woozy from her injury, saw the two and could not help but be confused. "Huh...? Two Yosukes?"

"Who are you!?" Yosuke demanded, getting up from the ground and grabbing the other by the collar. His sorrow was now replaced with blinding anger. That _thing_ was the one making those horrible accusations! He wanted to know what the hell it was and why it was doing it! "I-I wouldn't think that...!

The other Yosuke merely looked at Chie, who, since she had a concussion, was having trouble differentiating the two. His eyes felt like they were looking right through her, into parts of herself she never wanted to admit existed.

"**Hahaha**," the imposter Yosuke laughed darkly, "**Yeah, right. How long are you going to keep deluding yourself?**" It then looked deep into Yosuke's eyes, straight into his soul as well. "**Screw the shopping district, and Junes too! You're sick of everything, and especially living out in the sticks!**"

"What're you saying...?" Yosuke demanded, bringing out the baseball bat he still held. "That's not true, I-"

"**You put on a good show of being carefree and happy-go-lucky 'cause you're so terrified of being alone!**" the creature accused, sounding confident in what it was saying. "**The more the merrier, right? You've gotta be surrounded by people to block out the pain of isolation.**" Its face then melted from the smirk it held to a more angry grimace. "**And what's this about checking out this world for Saki-senpai's sake? You know **_**damn well**_** that your little crush wasn't serious! I know the real reason that you came snooping around.**"

"S-Stop it! That's not true!" Yosuke was having trouble staying confident. What that thing in front of him was saying _hurt_. It hurt every inch of him.

"**Hahaha!**" The imposter regained its smirk. "**Why so panicked? I thought I was just spouting bullshit! Or maybe... I **_**do**_** know everything you're thinking,**" the imposter said, sticking out his middle and pointer finger in the shape of a gun and placing it against his temple. "**Why's that...? Because I **_**am**_** you!**" He then pointed the finger gun towards Yosuke. "**You just came because you thought it sounded like a good time! What else is there to do out in this shithole?**" Other Yosuke then pointed at Chie, who was trying to get off the ground and to her feet. "**A world inside the TV—now that's exciting! You didn't have a single other reason for coming here, did you!?**"

"That's not true... Stop... Stop it..." Yosuke pleaded hopelessly. Why was it doing this? Was it for fun? Tormenting someone like this?

"**You're just trying to act like a big shot! If all went well, hey, maybe you could even be a hero!**" Other Yosuke said in that same cruel tone, "**And that Senpai you were so sweet on? Her death was the perfect excuse!**" It then tapped its finger gun against its chin. "**Oooh. But it didn't go so well, did it?**" It asked sarcastically. "**Your buddy ended up dead and you found out you were the reason that Senpai of yours was hated by everyone in town! And to think that you only liked her for the drama!**"

"That's not true!" Yosuke shouted, gripping the bat tightly. He was ready to bash that thing's brains in! But he couldn't find the will to do it... No matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't move forward.

"**It would've been boring as hell to date some chick that had no baggage attached,**" Other Yosuke continued, "**So what was your solution? Go after the one that had a family that hated Junes with a passion! What was it Chie said? 'The heiress to a local store and the employee of the invading chain! The flame of forbidden love!'**"

"What are you!? Who are you!?" Was all Yosuke could force from his mouth.

It only gave a dark chuckle.

"**I already told ya. I'm you,**" it said, "**Your Shadow... There's nothing I don't know about you!**"

"Screw that! I don't know you!" Yosuke roared. "YOU CAN'T BE ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

The imposter merely started to laugh, a maniacal horrible laugh, the aura around it building stronger. The aura was getting thicker and thicker, as the Shadow kept laughing. It finally let out a burst of smoke, pushing Yosuke back and onto the ground as the walls of the store fell to reveal a demented studio set, the fog around them a dark blue instead of yellow, and TV monitors hanging in the scaffolding.

The Shadow was visible again. But this time, it changed like the others. It had become a monstrous figure, a four-legged amphibious body with green camo-textured skin. It had two eyes poking out from the top of the front, each on a stalk, with black irises and red slits for pupils. The very front had a wide, yellow, 'V' like shape. The middle had a black, human-like figure poking out, fused to the creature. It had massive yellow hands and a red scarf tied around its neck. Yosuke also saw that it had yellow stars over where its eyes should have been.

"**I am a shadow... The true self...**" Shadow Yosuke said, still keeping his tone from before, "**I'll crush everything that bores me, starting with you!**"

"_I can't beat _that_!_" Yosuke screamed to himself.

He was right. That thing was too big to fight. Probably too strong too.

He wasn't given a choice, though, as Shadow Yosuke brought one of its massive feet down on Yosuke, trying to crush him.

Yosuke barely managed to roll out of the way, the blow shattering the ground under it and leaving cracks. What could he do? All he had was a metal baseball bat! There was no way he could fight that thing and win!

"**C'mon~,**" Shadow Yosuke taunted, "**I thought you wanted to be a hero? An action star? Well here's your chance for some action!**"

When it shouted that, the beast jumped into the air, slamming hard against the ground and sending a wall of wind to throw Yosuke against one of the scaffolding supports. Yosuke could feel his bones bend when smacked hard against the metal structure, coughing as his breath was torn from him.

"_Damn it! That really hurt..._" He screamed internally, his body on fire. That one blow may not have been much compared to what the Shadow could have done, but it was enough to already get to his limit.

"**Aww,**" Shadow Yosuke said in a mock caring tone,"**Did that hurt? Here, let me make it all **_**better**_!" The monster grabbed one of the other supports, pulling it out of the ground with ease and twisting one end to a find point. It then threw the support at Yosuke, who barely managed to dodge it as it impaled through the only remaining wall, the one connected to the front door.

Yosuke was out of the way of the immediate danger, but he didn't see the two giant yellow feet flying down towards him, ready to turn him into paint.

"GODDAMN IT, YOSUKE!" Was all he heard before he felt a strong pull on his collar. Something had grabbed him and threw him out of the way in time before the Shadow landed the attack, causing a tremor that shook the entire 'store', bottles swaying and a few kegs falling over.

Yosuke looked to see what threw him, only to see Guts standing in front of him, his front facing the Shadow. Yosuke noticed that Guts was covered in wounds and slime, red mixing slightly with the black when the ooze dribbled over the slashes across his back. He saw that his legs had teeth marks on them, the right having deeper than others. His arms were both equally cut up, both having cuts and bites that shocked Yosuke at how Guts was even able to throw him. He heard Guts breathing hard, though it sounded more-so in anger than in pain or exhaustion.

"G-Guts!" Yosuke shouted, shocked to see his friend alive.

Guts didn't even look at him. He just picked up the baseball bat that Yosuke dropped to the ground when he threw him and walked towards the Shadow.

"Buddy, you really fucked up..."

* * *

_Next Time..._

"_You're still you!"_

"_Persona, was it?"_

"_So you think that they could have been killed by their other selves?"_

"_Which do you like?"_

"_**Hello there! Princess Yukiko here!**_"

* * *

_A/N_

Hello. Plague again with yet _another_ addition to the Guts/Persona Boogaloo. I actually had in mind that they would've found Teddie by then, but I seemed to have written him out of the chapter and added Kanji instead.

Also, high-five for your school thinking you're a murderer! Now Guts has to find the killer or risk the entire town pinning the crime on him.

And Yosuke has a bad case of 'Romeo and Juliet' syndrome, loving the drama instead of the person. But was that true or just him thinking it was?

But be ready for the battle next chapter. That's when even his friends see what Guts can do if pushed to it.


	4. The Inner Voice: The Discovery

Guts walked towards Shadow Yosuke, clinking the metal baseball bat against the ground as he went.

"**You really think you can take me on with that!?**" Shadow Yosuke gave a deep, twisted laugh as it slammed a massive foot against the ground. "**Then come get some!**"

The creature then jumped into the air, slamming into the ground and sending another wall of wind towards Guts.

"_Oh crap!_" Yosuke screamed in his head, his eyes wide and full of fear. He knew what that thing just did, and with how injured Guts was, there was no way he could get out of the way in time!

The wall smashed into Guts at full force, who was sent flying into through the glass door of the refrigerators. Alcohol of all kinds washed over Guts, pouring into his wounds and getting into his eyes. Glass shredded was parts of his back weren't already from the fight from earlier. Blood poured out from the fridge and pooled onto the floor, Guts staying completely still.

"**Ha!**" Shadow Yosuke mocked. "**I knew he was nothin' but a poser! All bark and no bite...**" The creature then shifted towards Chie, who was knocked out once again when her head slammed against the shelf during the last attack. "**Now time for a little appetizer!**" It reached one of its feet towards her, inching ever closer towards the unconscious girl.

"_Why can't I get up...? Why can't I do anything?_" Yosuke tried to get up on his feet, knocked back and right next to Chie after being blown away by the wind as well. But he could do nothing as the creature grabbed Chie and lifted her into the sky, standing on its hind legs.

"**This is for all the shots to the nads, you bitch!**" Shadow Yosuke was loosening the grip it had on Chie, fully willing to let her drop to her death. "**Spoiler warning,**" it said, looking towards his host, "**it's gonna hurt!**"

"You're Goddamned right about that..." Shadow Yosuke heard a voice say before he felt the most blinding and agonizing pain imaginable. It came from in between its hindlegs, in a very _personal_ area.

"**DAMN IT!**" It threw its front legs to the area, covering them and curling into a ball, Chie fell from its grip but was quickly caught by Guts, the one responsible for the pain the creature was in. "**Cr-Critical shot the nads... Again...**"

"What can I say?" Guts said, placing Chie next to Yosuke before shooting a glare to the monster, "I never was a clean fighter."

"Dude," Yosuke said, staring at his tortured shell of a Shadow. "Remind me never to piss you off."

"**Why... Why always the same spot...?**" It groaned out.

"You still acting like a little bitch and not trying to kill me now?" Guts asked mockingly, twirling the baseball bat he used to score a home-run on the Shadow's privates in his hand.

The beast rose to its legs, hatred glowing in its eyes, both on the black figure and the ones connected to the frog-like body.

"**I'M GONNA KILL YOU!**" It shouted simply, raising a foot into the air before dropping it like a hammer, aiming for the one that had just struck him.

However, Guts swiftly dodged out of the way, jumping onto the foot before running onto the creature.

"**ARGH!**" Shadow Yosuke started to shake its body, trying to knock Guts off, who made it to the shoulder and hanging on for dear life. "**GET OFF! YOU ARE SO ANNOYING!**"

Guts hung though, digging his metal fingers into the flesh of the monster. Black slime oozed out of the wound that Guts tore open, big enough to fit his hand and stay on while the hand with the baseball bat swung towards the black figure commanding the body.

He scored a hit against its midsection, the bat smashing against the creature like a freight train. The rest of the body flipped on to its side, scrambling to get to its feet.

Guts was thrown off when it fell, his metal hand ripping out a large chunk of black, oily flesh. He got to his feet as the monster was already back onto its.

"**What a frickin' pain in the ass!**" Shadow Yosuke prepared for another jump, curling its legs like a spring. "**Get outta my way!**"

Just as it had telegraphed, the monster jumped into the air, ready to slam against the ground and send them all flying. Only this time, Guts saw that the Shadow was _moving_ in mid-air. It was trying to land right on top of him!

"**Have fun being paint, dick!**" Shadow Yosuke fell as fast as a bullet, ready to finish off the annoying pest that seemed to not die!

"_Shit! He's coming right for me!_" Guts looked around, trying to find a way to survive the inevitable contact. He would never be able to dodge out of the way in time! Suddenly, something caught his eye.

"**See ya in Hell!**" Shadow Yosuke screamed as it slammed directly onto his target, sending the strongest wall of wind yet, finishing off the walls and sending all the heavy kegs and even shelves flying like toys. All that was left was an empty lot, the rest of the twisted shopping district in full view without any obstructions. "**Hahaha!**" Shadow Yosuke laughed cruelly. "**I got him! I fucking got him! Take that, you pain in the ass!**"

"How's _this_ for a pain in the ass!?" Shadow Yosuke heard Guts shout from beneath it, right before a powerful electric current pulsed through its body. Its body began to seize up, spasms tore through it as it fell over for the third and final time. The current continued to hijack whatever nervous system it could have contained, causing its body to convulse on the ground in agony.

Guts climbed out from under the creature as another spasm tore through its body. He was head to toe in slime once again, only it seemed much thicker this time. He turned his head to see his handiwork, the Shadow convulsing with the exposed electric wire tied around the metal bat protruding out of the monster's midsection.

Yosuke saw Guts walk towards him, who offered a hand to help him up. Yosuke took the offer and the hand, feeling the thick slime that covered Guts. Whatever it was, it smelled _awful_. Like rotting meat in the middle of the summer. Guts didn't seem to notice and merely went. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." Yosuke looked towards the beast, still convulsing on the ground. A sudden burst of thick black smoke filled the area and dissipated, revealing the 'normal' Shadow who was now laying on the ground. "What... happened...?"

Guts gave a shrug. "Told ya. I fight dirty."

Yosuke looked back to see the Shadow on its feet again, this time saying nothing and merely staring at the two.

"You... You're... not me..." Yosuke insisted, shaking his head.

"Oh, stop being a little bitch!" Guts gave Yosuke a slap on the back of the head. "I heard everything."

Yosuke went pale when Guts said that. How long was he gone for anyway!?

"Listen," Guts said, surprisingly sympathetic, "you're still you, man. Some yellow eyed pansy ain't gonna change that." Guts placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. Yosuke was unsure, but he swore that he saw Guts give him a caring look.

"Myself..." Yosuke merely stared at his Shadow. "Dammit... It hurts to face yourself."

Yosuke then approached the Shadow, his voice calm and accepting.

"I knew it wasn't lying..." He admitted, tears in his eyes. "But I was so ashamed that I didn't want to admit it." He placed each of his hands over his and the Shadows hearts. "You're me... and I'm you. When you get down to it, all of this is me."

The Shadow merely gave a sad smile and nodded slowly.

It then transformed once again, the smoke dissipating and revealing a long and slim human-like figure in a white jumpsuit, a camouflage pattern covering the hands and feet. The 'V' shape the shadow had hung on the chest of the figure, the same scarf hanging around its neck as well. Its overly large hands held large yellow shurikens in the palms. The ears were the large toad-like eyes the Shadow held, the black figure's eyes and head matching with the figure floating above the two men. It then faded away, turning into a tarot card that floated down to Yosuke before it too faded away.

"Jiraiya..." Yosuke said under his breath. "My... Persona..." He looked at his hands, surprised at what he was saying. "This is my Persona..."

Guts stared at him in total shock.

"_WHAT... THE FUCK... JUST HAPPENED!?_"

Yosuke dropped to his knees, a wave of exhaustion crashing into him.

"When I heard Senpai's voice..." Yosuke said, his voice sounding just as tired as he was. "I wondered if that was something Senpai had been keeping deep down inside..."

"_SERIOUSLY! THERE WAS THE SHADOW AND THEN IT TURNED INTO THE GUY AND THEN A CARD!? WHAT THE FUCK IS A PERSONA!?_"

"'He was a real pain in the ass', huh?" Yosuke gave a sad chuckle.

"_No, fuck you! What was with that magic bullshit a second ago!?"_

"What a way to find out..." Yosuke covered his face with a hand. "Geez, this is so embarrassing..."

"_AW, FUCK IT!_"

"Hey, Guts. You look a little spooked by something." Yosuke looked over his friend. "You doin' alright?"

"I'm fine." Guts merely shrugged.

"Anyway, if you weren't here, I don't know what woulda happened." Yosuke got back on his feet and gave his friend a warm smile. "Thanks, Guts."

* * *

The two carried Chie, each draping one of her arms across their necks. They made their way out of the shopping district and towards what they hoped was the studio, the fog once again constricting their vision. Luckily, they found the familiar scaffolding and metal walkways that belonged to the studio that they started in.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

They also found that bear that Guts was talking about.

"GAH!" The bear jumped several inches in the air, broken out of the pacing it was doing beforehand. "Oh, it's you!" The bear then ran towards Guts, who was walking with several cracked bones he wasn't willing to admit was there... One definitely broken. "Geez, what happened to you?" It then saw the other two he was with. "Who're your friends?"

"_Where... were... you..._?" Guts growled, his teeth clenched and his hands ready to rip that annoying fur ball to shreds. "We were looking everywhere for you, you son of a bitch!"

"U-Uhh," the bear began, sweating profusely, "y-you see Shadows scare the fuzz right out of me! S-So I hid when they got really angry again." The bear then mentally put the puzzle together. "Wait... Why are _you_ here? You promised not to come back if I let you out!" It growled and proceeded to kick Guts in the shin.

"_HEY_!" Guts roared, murder appearing in his eyes. "For your information, we just fought off a bunch of your little monsters!"

"You... fought the Shadows?" The bear could not believe what its little ears just told him. All the other people that got thrown into his world couldn't fight off the Shadows! They just died really slowly and painfully.

"Yeah." Guts said, tapping Yosuke's shoulder with his metal hand. "Had to kick the ass of one that looked like my buddy here. It turned into... What was it called again?" He turned his head towards Yosuke.

"A Persona!" Yosuke seemed shocked himself that he had said the words. "Jiraiya is his name."

"Oh dear sweet God, he named it..." Guts dropped his head towards the ground. Now Yosuke had a name for his little magic pet thing...

"I didn't _name_ him." Yosuke glared at Guts. "That's always been his name."

"Anyway." Guts turned back to Teddie, expertly ignoring Yosuke. "What the fuck are 'Shadows' anyway? Why did one look like Yosuke?"

"And how did it know what I was really thinking?" Yosuke bit the inside of his lip. That was the part that scared him the most. It _knew_ everything he was thinking. Even the parts he didn't tell **anyone**.

"Shadows come from people." The bear scratched its head, uncertainty splattered on its face. "They're the repressed thoughts that go crazy after awhile."

"Wait." Yosuke shook his head. "So that thing was _me_?"

"Kinda," the bear said, its tone showing that it didn't know for sure, "it was a part of you that you refused to admit existed, so it went bear-serk and split off from you. When you admitted it existed, it must've turned into your Persona!"

"So his Persona is also his Shadow?" Guts had no idea what any of this had to do with _getting the fuck out of there_, but he also wanted to know what it was Yosuke had now... and if they should worry about it later.

"I don't know everything!" The bear said, frustration showing clear on its face. "Besides, you guys are probably the ones throwing people in here!"

"WHAT!?" Yosuke and Guts shouted, anger showering their tone with hatred.

"You guys just so happen to show up and need my help~!" The bear said condescendingly. It then pointed at Guts. "_You_ twice in one week! How am I supposed to know that it isn't all a big trick to get me to help you with your murder spree!?"

"**Listen here, you Public Access Channel reject!" **Guts shouted in pure rage, **"I am sick to fucking death of people thinking that I did shit that I didn't do! So you have two choices! You can either conjure up an exit and let us out of here, or I can break my foot off in your ass! So, option one or option two!?"**

"Bwaaaaa!" The bear began to sob, falling to the ground and rolling side to side. Tears poured from its large eyes onto the ground, creating a small puddle.

"Sheesh, Guts. You didn't have to make the little guy cry..." Yosuke moved a foot back as the puddle inched closer.

"I just wanna live here peacefully, all by my bear-some!" The bear continued rolling around as it sobbed.

"Geez, will you stop crying already?" Yosuke asked. This was getting completely out of hand. He placed a palm to his face as the bear continued on.

"My once beautiful home is now all foggy and filled with Shadows! What am I going to _doooooo_!? Bwaaaa!"

"Alright! If you shut the fuck up, we'll help you." Guts turned his head away from the bear, staring off into the fog beside them.

"Wait... WHAT!?" Yosuke's jaw dropped to the ground. Did Guts just offer to help some bear in a world inside the TV? This day just kept getting stranger and stranger...

"You mean it!?" The bear had a smile that stretched across its face that seemed to glow bright with joy.

"Yeah. Two birds, one stone." Guts thought back to how he could find the asshole that actually killed those two girls and clear his name. If that just so happened to help a little blue and red bear inside the TV, who was he to argue?

"Alrightie then!" The bear cracked its fingers. "Three exits coming beary quick!"

"If you ever make a joke that bad again, I'll tear your head off..."

Three of the same televisions that Guts used as an exit during his first expedition into the strange world landed in front of them. Guts wasted no time and immediately jumped through one, taking Chie with him. Yosuke, one the other hand, had a question to ask.

"Hey, before I go, I have a question. Does the Midnight Channel have anything to do with people ending up here?" Yosuke had a theory brewing in the back of his head. He needed to get a second opinion before he confirmed anything though.

"I don't know what that is." The bear looked sadly to the ground. "I just know that people show up sometimes. The Shadows get really mad when that happens, and things get bear-y scary!"

"Alright. Also. Seeing that we'll probably be coming here a lot, what should we call you?"

"I'm Teddie!"

"Of course you are..."

* * *

The Junes jingle rang through the trio's ears as they found themselves in the middle of the electronics department once again. They saw that all of the cuts and injuries they suffered were miraculously healed and all evidence of their adventure was gone. Except that Chie was still out cold.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Yosuke asked, worried for his friend. The first thing he found himself doing was picking her up, draping her arm around his neck and lifting her to her feet.

"Just a small concussion." Guts looked around for anyone that could have seen them exiting the television. "We should get her somewhere she can rest."

"Her house is a definite no," Yosuke said quickly. He shifted Chie's arm when he saw her start to droop towards the ground. "Her parents are super protective. If we show up with her knocked out... well... There's no way it'd end well!"

"Same here." Guts continued to scan around for any onlookers, only seeing a few straggling customers that paid no attention to them. "If my uncle saw us bringing an unconscious girl into the house, I'm sure we'd get charges on us."

"Yeah... We can try Yukiko's," Yosuke offered, "I'm sure that she wo-. Why are you looking at me like that?"

The silence gave Yosuke a non-verbal answer.

"_No._"

"Your parents home?"

"_No_!"

"Any siblings to worry about?"

"_NO_!"

* * *

"I fucking hate you so much..." Yosuke said from inside his bedroom. He looked at the unconscious Chie, resting on his futon.

Yosuke's room was your generic teenage boy room. Messy with posters of bands and movies all over the walls. Clothes littered the ground, some building up in piles in areas too numerous to be comfortable. There was a small trashcan overflowing with crushed soda cans and empty chip bags. Even his work desk was covered in junk!

"How can you live like this?" Guts asked. One thing no one knew about him was his passion for cleanliness in regards to his room. To him, it was his castle. So why would he ruin it with empty bottles of Melon Soda and... _the horrid magazine he just found under a pair of jeans_!

"H-HEY!" Yosuke snatched the magazine back, his face bright red. "That is private property!"

"How could she even walk with those things...?" Guts appreciated a large pair on a woman... but those... How was she supposed to treat patients with those in the way!?

"**Anyway!**" Yosuke grit his teeth as he spoke. "We should let Chie rest for now. We'll come back later, see if she wakes up."

"Right."

With that, the two stepped out into the hallway of Yosuke's house. It was clear that his family made, at least, above average income, the house itself being decently large and stuffed with the latest gadgets and gizmos that seemed utterly pointless beyond just showing how much money they made.

"Wanna check out the Rec-room?" Yosuke's face grew into a shit-eating grin. "We just got a new plasma-screen! It's a monster, dude!"

"Why not?"

* * *

Chie still laid sleeping on the futon in Yosuke's room. Strangely, her dream was just a memory. A memory she long forgot, only a year after she met Yukiko...

'_It was raining when she arrived at the Amagi Inn, her little green umbrella the only protection from the wave of rain that fell from the sky. She was wearing her school uniform, which had just ended when she ran to her friend's home. She had a small green jacket similar to the one she wore in the present, only that one had the picture of a turtle on the back of it._

_She had entered the inn as she usually would, expecting to find an employee there that would tell her where she could find Yukiko so the two could play. However, that was not the case. It was empty. There was not a soul to be found as she looked around the traditional-styled inn._

_She found no one. Not an employee, not Yukiko, not even a guest!_

"_Hello?" the little girl asked, starting to become afraid of the silence. "I-Is anyone here?"_

_She walked through the halls, trying to find someone, anyone, that could tell her what was going on! She found herself checking behind herself more than once, sure she had just heard something behind her._

_But she found nothing each time she looked. Same with her search for anyone in the inn. She climbed the stairs to the next floor, hoping that someone was there at least!_

_The floor above looked the exact same as the one before, each hallway filled with doors to the various guest rooms. Once again, she found nothing. Not a soul to be seen as she walked through the desolate halls._

"_P-Please!" Chie called out, "I-Is anyone there!?"_

_No answer came, just more suffocating silence._

_It was getting to be too much! She wanted to go home now! She turned to head back to the stairs, only... Which way was it? Every hall looked the same! Was it the left? No, the right? It was all so confusing!_

_She then sat against the wall and started to cry. What happened? Where was everyone? Where was Yukiko? She simply sat and sobbed for what felt like hours. It was hopeless... She was gonna be lost forever! Lost in a creepy inn for the rest of her life... The mere thought brought more tears to her eyes._

"_Hey, what's wrong?" Chie heard a voice say. She looked up to see a young boy about her age. He had black hair and black eyes, as well as a scar going across his nose. He already looked pretty muscular for being so young._

"_I-I..." Chie was befuddled at seeing another person in the inn. Didn't he know that everyone was gone!? "I'm lost... I can't find anyone..."_

"_I think the owners called everyone to some kinda meeting." The boy scratched his head with his hand, trying to recall what the announcement he heard earlier was all about. "What room are you in? I can take you there, if you want."_

"_I-I don't have one... I'm friends with Yukiko Amagi." Chie wiped away a few tears that tried to spill from her eyes. "I came over and I can't find her."_

"_I think she's over at the meeting too." The boy crossed his arms over his chest, trying to remember. "The announcement said _everyone_."_

"_Wait. Does that include guests?" Chie bit her lip, anxious to hear what the answer was._

"_I think so. I guess it's some kinda party." The boy then looked towards the floor, his face turning bright red._

"_Huh? What's wrong?" Chie raised an eyebrow at his sudden shift in confidence. He seemed to have went from open and social to shy and reserved in less than a minute._

"_I-I just realized that yo-you're a girl..." The boy refused to raise his head as he spoke._

_Just when Chie was about to ask what that was supposed to mean, she saw a familiar face run past them._

_It was Yukiko! She had her small pink kimono on with the dark red sash keeping it closed. Her hair was long and black, just as always. Her eyes were that familiar coal color that Chie had grown so used to. She was delighted to actually see her friend! Finally!_

"_Yuki-!" Chie stopped, her smile dropped when she heard Yukiko's sobs as she ran past. Her eyes brimmed with tears that fell freely. "Yukiko?"_

"_Is she okay?" the young boy asked, noticing the young girl as well._

"_I-I don't know..."_

"_**FUCK YOU!**__" They both heard a loud, masculine voice shout. It sounded clearly angry over something. "__**FUCK YOU AND YOUR KID! I'M LEAVING!**__"_

_The two then saw a young, twenty-something year old, man marching past them. He had dark brown hair and eyes, the eyes looking as though they contained pure malice in them. He marched right past the two kids, until he actually noticed Chie and the boy and stopped dead in his tracks. He gave one long hard glare at the boy, then at Chie._

"_Fuckin' brats..." Was all the man said before continuing on. They heard his stomps when he reached the stairs, followed by a few seconds of silence before a loud slam shook the whole inn._

"_I think you should go see your friend..." The boy was visibly shaken at what had just happened. _

"_Y-Yeah!" Chie could not blame him for getting freaked out, she was too!_

"_I gotta get back to my room anyway." The boy turned to leave. "I hope your friend is okay."_

"_Me too." Chie nodded. "Hey, what's your name?"_

"_Oh! It's Guts."'_

* * *

Chie's head felt like someone had used it as a bongo... using a hammer. Her vision blurred as she opened her eyes, adjusting to her surroundings. Oddly, she was not in the TV World anymore. Instead she was in an _extremely_ messy bedroom. Whoever lived in it probably got burgled never tried to clean up the aftermath. The futon she laid on felt somewhat lumpy, like something was under it.

Where were those two...? Oh. Right.

Chie mentally slapped herself when she remembered that it was just her and Yosuke now. The big guy sacrificed himself so they could get away from those monsters. She turned to her side, staring off into the ocean of discarded clothing that threatened to devour anyone that tried to cross it.

Then... Something caught her eye. It was under an old pair of jeans, the hot pink standing out from the dark blue. Chie reached out a hand towards the old jeans, having to move somewhat off the futon.

"What the..." Chie pulled out a magazine from underneath the jeans.

* * *

Yosuke and Guts were making their way back to the room Chie was resting in, intending to check up on her. But as they walked, they heard a loud feminine shriek.

"What was that!?" Yosuke was already running towards the noise, Guts not far behind. When they reached the epicenter, they realized that it was from Yosuke's bedroom.

"It sounded like Chie!" Guts kicked the door open, nearly tearing it off of its hinges. They saw Chie sitting fetal position on the futon, completely awake and staring at the same magazine that Guts had found earlier.

"OH COME ON!" Yosuke's face turned a shade of red that would not be out of place on Yukiko's school uniform.

Chie stared at the embarrassed Yosuke, who quickly snatched the magazine back and proceeded to tear it to pieces, and then to Guts, who was trying his best not to laugh at the others' misfortune.

"Y-You came baaack~!" Chie wailed, who then jumped from the futon and pinned Guts in a bear hug. She then cried into his chest, staining his uniform. "Yosuke said you died, and then I passed out, and... and..." Her crying came back and she simply let it happen.

"Well I ain't de-." Guts was interrupted when Chie brought her leg up and kneed Guts in the crotch. The pain bringing him to his knees.

"YOU IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!? YOU ARE SUCH A MORON!" Chie then turned her back away from him, her face red with anger. "I hate you! You suck!"

"Stupid... bitch..." Guts muttered in response. He refused to fall during his fight with the Shadows, now he was taken down by an angry tomboy. This shame would follow him to the grave.

"Look, we're really sorry Chie." Yosuke crossed his arms across his chest. "You got knocked out and you weren't there when he came back."

"Hmmph." Chie refused to look at them, pouting like a child. "For this offense, you both owe me ten-no-_twelve_ beef steaks. The good stuff!"

"Huh?" Yosuke could not believe what he had just heard. Chie had a strange punishment system. "O-Of course! The very best!"

"Fuck... that..." Guts got back to his feet. He wasn't going to let some little skank tell him what to do! His pride still existed!

"If you don't, then I guess I should try out that new kick I saw yesterday." Chie looked at her nails, taunting the two. "I wonder where I'll land it...?"

"Ah!" Yosuke's hands flew to his crotch. "D-Don't listen to him! We'll do it! Twelve beef steaks, and the good ones too!"

"Alright then!" Chie's smile was the pure definition of joy as she jumped into the air.

Guts then looked at his watch, seeing the time just reaching past seven.

"I'm heading out," he said simply, walking out the door. "See you guys tomorrow."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Yosuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My uncle won't exactly be that understanding if I show up late." Guts gave a shrug. "You guys have the luxury of being able to lie and get away with it."

Guts then left the room, leaving Yosuke and Chie alone in his room.

"For that magazine, you add three more steaks on your bill!"

"Oh come on!"

* * *

As Guts walked past the floodplains, on the way back from Yosuke's house. He saw a familiar face sheltering themselves under the gazebo.

"Hm...?" Yukiko said, noticing him as well. She was wearing a pink floral kimono with a light blue sash wrapped around her middle.

Guts walked up to the gazebo, taking a seat at the wooden picnic table it sheltered. Yukiko looked quite uncomfortable, but seemed happy to have company.

"Are you surprised to see me dressed this way?" Yukiko waved a hand, gesturing to her kimono. "My parents sent me out on an errand."

"Hmph." Guts' eyes scanned the girl, looking over at her outfit.

"Um... Are you getting used to your new school?" Yukiko's face turned red when she saw the large man's eyes look over her.

"It's been pretty crazy, can't deny that." Guts laid back against the bench. He replayed the entire TV World fiasco that happened just a few hours earlier.

"Really...?" Yukiko looked to have been holding back giggles. She had not expected someone from the city to say that. Most travelers complain about how boring it is there. "But... It must be difficult, moving to a place you know nothing about."

"Been doin' that for awhile, why should I give a shit about not knowing anything when I get there?" Guts looked to the pouring rain that went on as they talked.

"I've never been out of Inaba," Yukiko admitted, "so I wouldn't know what it's like to transfer to a new school..." Yukiko felt the conversation get heavy and uncomfortable. A dark look sparked in Guts' eyes. "Oh! Are you getting along with Chie? I mean, I always leave early, so... Umm..."

"We're getting along." He mentioned _nothing_ about the events of the day, including her and Yosuke thinking he was a serial killer.

"I'm glad to hear that." Yukiko gave a small smile. "Chie's very supportive, you know. It's always her who gives me the little extra push I need." Yukiko continued to gush about her friend, sounding strange to Guts. "We had homeroom together last year too, and I still remember how we'd cut class sometimes." She then immediately looked to her feet, her face turning bright red. "Oh... I should get going. I need to make tomorrow's arrangements with out head chef." Yukiko gave a sad sigh. "Our inn can't function without me right now..." She stood up from the table, retrieving her red umbrella. "Um... I'll see you at school, then."

With that, she walked off into the rain.

* * *

Guts sat with Nanako in their usual spots at the table, watching television.

"Dad's late," Nanako said sadly, her head turned towards the door that refused to open.

"~_Our next story is an update in our ongoing report on the bizarre murders occurring in Inaba. At around 7:00 A.M., local high school student Saki Konishi was found dead in Inaba's residential area. Since the body was positioned similarly to the last victim, and since Ms. Konishi was the one who discovered that body... Police are proceeding under the assumption that this may be a serial murder case related to the death of Mayumi Yamano. The coroner's report has established Ms. Konishi's time of death at around 1:00 A.M. last night. The body went unnoticed until this morning as a result of the heavy fog blanketing the area.~_"

"Another incident..." Nanako stared at the television in apathy. This meant that her father was going to be working late for awhile. "Dad won't be coming home tonight."

"Guess not." Guts looked to Nanako, who seemed have been staring off into space. "You worried about him?"

"Uh-huh." Nanako look to the table, staring into the drink she had. "But that's how it goes. He's a detective, so he's really busy."

"~..._Amagi Inn, located upstream f Samegawa river, is the town's oldest historical landmark.~_"

"_Wait, Amagi? Isn't that..._"

"~_Vacationers are known to travel surprising distances in order to visit its open-air, radium-rich hot spring. After the incident with Ms. Yamano, the manager has stepped aside, leaving her daughter Yukiko to fill her shoes.~_"

"_That's right. Her family owns the place_..."

Yukiko herself then appeared on the television, wearing the same kimono he saw her wearing earlier.

"~_In other words, she's a manager who's still in high school. Now that has a nice ring to it... Let's see if we can interview her. Excuse me! 'Hm...? Um... Are you speaking to me?' We've heard that you're the new manager. Is it true you're still in high school? 'Oh, well, I'm only filling in temporarily...' Someday, though... That aside, wow! You're looking gorgeous in the kimono. You must have had a lot of male visitors.~_"

"_I'm gonna tear that asshole apart limb from fucking limb..._" Guts grit his teeth and clenched his fist.

"~_'Huh? No, um...'_~"

The reporter began to ramble on and on, drifting further away from the subject.

"This is boring." Nanako was unable to see that Guts was getting closer and closer to running down to the inn and committing murder on national television. "Oh, I need to do the dishes..."

"I'll help." Guts needed something to get his mind off of the perverted reporter harassing his friend. A few chores would help clear his head.

"_Dishes now. Castration later._"He agreed on in his head.

* * *

Guts found himself staring into the turned off television in his room.

"_It happened once, it could happen again._"

Just as he said that, another image appeared on the screen. It seemed that if the conditions were all met, he could see it whenever he wanted.

A dark silhouette appeared. It looked somewhat feminine, and wearing a kimono. Wait... Kimono?

The figure was too out of focus to clearly tell who it was, but it certainly felt familiar.

"_Here's hoping this works..._" Guts lifted his hand to the screen, sinking it into the screen. He was hoping to grab whoever was in there and be able to pull them out. Unfortunately, the image merely disappeared. "_Shit. That's what I get for trying to be creative._"

* * *

Guts awoke in that familiar blue room. The old man and the woman sitting at their usual spots.

"Welcome," Igor said, his voice retaining its calm nature. "Do not be alarmed. You are fast asleep in the real world... I have summoned you within your dreams."

"Who are you people? Where am I?" Guts found that his words had no impact on the world around him, the two acting as though he never spoke.

"And so we meet again..." Igor merely chuckled.

"This is a space that only those who have, in one way or another, entered into a contract may enter." The woman in blue rested a hand on a book in her lap. "In your daily like, you subconsciously heard the call to awaken, and you chose to follow the destiny of your inner voice. Thereby enacting your glorious awakening to your power."

"What power? Going through TVs?"

"Hold on to this," Igor said, handing Guts a blue key. "From this night forth, you are our guest in this Velvet Room. Your destiny will require you to hone your power, and for that, you will inevitably require our help." Igor then tapped his cane against the ground. "There is but one price for this assistance. You must abide by the contract and assume responsibility for all decisions you may make."

"Sure, whatever you say, old man."

"Very well." Igor widened his already long smile. "The Persona you have acquired. It is a side of you that shows itself when you face the world around you. Perhaps you can think of it as... a facade of determination you wear to face various difficulties in life."

"I gotta stop you right there." Guts raised his hands in the air. "I ain't got a Persona. That belongs to my buddy."

"Check your right pocket." Margaret pointed at said pocket.

Guts opened the pocket, and something flew out of it! It was fast and wasted no time in flying out of his pocket... and smacking Guts across the nose.

"You big idiot! What the hell were you thinking, keeping me in there!? I nearly ran out of air I was in there so long!"

The thing looked like a small pixie, his butterfly-like wings buzzing as he ranted on. His hair was in a tear-drop like shape, standing straight up but ending at a point. His eyes were an emerald green. Its voice was similar to a small child.

"You. Have got. To be fucking kidding me..."

"Your Persona ability, however, is that of the wild card... Compared to that of others, it is very special." Igor looked like he was holding back a laugh as the small pixie buzzed around Guts' head, who looked as though he was about ready to kill everyone in the room. "It is like the number zero... empty, yet holding infinite potential within itself."

"Gotcha, you little bastard!" Guts clenched his fist around the pixie, almost crushing the poor thing. He then turned to Igor. "So what's so special about being zero?"

"The Persona ability is the power to control one's own heart... And the heart is strengthened through bonds." Igor once again tapped his cane. "As you form bonds by becoming involved with others, your own Social Links will gradually develop. The power of these Social Links is what will determine your Person's abilities."

"So I gotta get people to like me so this thing can get more power?" Guts looked at the pixie, him trying his best to escape from the death grip that Guts had on him.

"Social Links are necessary for more than strengthening your Persona." Margaret took a sip from her wineglass. "At times, they will help you light the way to the truth you are searching for."

"Where will your awakened power of the wild card take you...?" Igor rubbed his chin with a hand. "I look forward to traveling the road of destiny together..." He then waved a hand. "'Til we meet again..."

* * *

Guts found himself walking through the floodplains on the way to school. He could not remember waking up or getting ready. He was already well on his way, his suitcase and uniform at the ready.

"_What the hell...?_"

"Yo!" Yosuke rode up to Guts on his bike, happy to see his friend. "You saw what was on last night, right?" Yosuke's face was oddly serious. "I couldn't tell who it was, but if someone's shown up on TV, we can't ignore it." He adjusted the headphones around his neck. "Let's go check it out after school. Maybe Teddie can tell us something."

"Teddie?" Guts crossed his arms.

"The bear." Yosuke felt ridiculous saying it. "His name's Teddie."

"You need to stop naming shit _now_." Guts started grinding his teeth. He was _not_ calling that thing Teddie.

"I didn't name him! That's just his name." Yosuke looked off to the side, annoyed that Guts keeps thinking that he was giving everything a name. "Anyway, if it turns out someone was thrown in again, there really might be a culprit behind all this. Even if it is something about that place that's killing the victims..." Yosuke shook his head slowly. "If someone's using that world as a weapon, that's unforgivable." Yosuke punched in the air. "We need to find the culprit... no matter what it takes!"

"Agreed." Guts was more than willing to find the guy that caused him to hide in the Art Room for over an hour. Made him look like a damned coward!

"There's no way the police can do it... Who'd believe that the murderer kills people by throwing them into the TV?" Yosuke rambled on, trying to convince an already on board Guts.

"It's gotta be us."

"Hehe... Cool. It's reassuring to hear someone else say it." Yosuke rubbed the back of his neck with a hand, clearly showing that he was trying to convince himself. "You know, I tried sticking my head in the TV last night, the way you did, and it actually worked." Guts had his jaw hit the ground. "I think I can do that now because I have that power. Persona wasn't it?"

The mere word caused Guts to go pale. Yosuke was to never, _never,_ find out about that pixie thing he had.

"_**I have a name, you know!**_"

"_What the fuck are you doing in my head!?"_

"_**Uhh... Because I'm a part of your subconscious? I'm part of you!**_"

"_You've gotta be kidding me! So I have to deal with you screeching in my head from now on!?"_

"_**Yep! But don't worry, your good friend Puck is here to help you crack the case!**_"

"_Puck?"_

"_**That's me! I'm Puck.**_"

"Dude, you okay?" Yosuke furrowed his brow as he saw Guts just staring off into space. "You look a little out of it..."

"I'm fine!" Guts shouted, his eye twitching. "Perfectly... Fine..."

"Alright." Yosuke then gave Guts a wink. "You know, I feel like, as long as you're with me, I can find the culprit and crack the case."

"_**Geez... what a way to seem like a homo.**_"

"_Shut. The fuck. UP!_"

* * *

Before class began, Yosuke and Guts were talking about the case and who the woman on TV was. Just then, Chie burst into the classroom in a panic, running towards the two.

"Uh... Chie!" Yosuke's eyes went wide with her sudden appearance. "Um... About yesterday... We're sorry we worried you..."

"Never mind that! Is Yukiko still not here?" Chie looked around, trying to find her friend.

"Huh? Y-Yukiko-san? Uh... no...?" Yosuke shook his head slowly. "At least, I haven't seen her today."

"Oh man... What should I do...?" Chie looked as though she was about to have a heart attack, her pupils shrunk down to pins. "Hey, is that stuff you were talking about for real? You know... All about how people showing up on the Midnight Channel is related to that other world?"

"Wait. What're you talking about?" Guts was meaning to ask a few questions to Yosuke. "And how'd you know to check out the Midnight Channel last night anyway?"

"Oh! You see, I have this theory." Yosuke looked rather proud at his discovery. "I believe that the people that show up on the Midnight Channel may be the next target's of the killer. I told her about it yesterday when you left."

"Huh. That surprisingly makes sense. Especially coming from you."

"_Anyway_," Yosuke tried to shrug off the backhanded insult, "we're thinking of checking it out later-."

"The person on TV yesterday... I think it was Yukiko." Chie shook like a leaf in worry. "That kimono looked like the one she wears at the inn, and she wore it during that interview a few days ago too." She looked off to the side, imagining the horrible things that might have happened to her friend. "I got worried, so I emailed her last night, but she hasn't responded... I called her earlier in the evening though, and she said she'd be at school today... I-I..."

"Calm down." Yosuke placed a hand on her shoulder. "We get the picture. And you still haven't heard from her?"

"No..." Chie looked to her feet.

"She'll be fine," Guts said bluntly. "If she's in there, we'll get her out. Simple as that"

"What's that supposed to mean...?" Chie asked, clearly taking his statement out of context. "Wait, are you saying... Yukiko was thrown in there!?"

"We don't know yet for sure." Yosuke shook his head. "We should check to see if she's safe first. Give her another call."

Chie nodded and pulled out her cellphone, dialing Yukiko's number from her contacts. A few buzzes rang out before transferring to and automated message.

"No good... Her voicemail picked up..." Chie's arms were shaking at that point. "S-She's not answering..."

"Are you serious?" Yosuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then is Yukiko-san inside that place...?"

"S-Stop it! Something must've come up, like an errand or something..." Chie was consumed with denial at that point. Yukiko was alright! She was merely busy. "Oh, or she might be helping at the inn... She wouldn't be able to answer her cell if that's it..."

"Yeah, but would she skip school for that?" Yosuke started tapping his foot anxiously.

"W-Well, I'll give the inn a call... Umm... I've got the number here somewhere..." Chie's eyes scanned over the countless names on her cellphone. She finally found the one she wanted and dialed it. "C'mon, Yukiko... Pick up..." Her face exploded into a smile. "Oh, is this Yukiko!? Thank god, she's there!" Her eyes closed as she felt the worry melt from her. "Uh-huh... Uh-huh, I see... Ah, uh. Nah, it was nothing, haha. I'll email you again later..." She put her phone back in her jacket pocket and gave a sigh. "She was over at the inn. She said they had a big group reservation and she had to help out." She put a finger to her chin. "Yeah... Now that I think about it, this happened once before, too. At least once a year. She said she'll be at the inn tomorrow too." She roughly grabbed Yosuke by the collar. "Oh, for crying out loud, Yosuke! You got me worried over nothing! She was totally fine! And you were all, 'Is Yukiko-san inside that place...?' Hmph." She let him go and pouted, her arms crossed across her chest and her back facing the two.

"S-Sorry." Was all Yosuke could mutter. "But there is a reason I thought that."

"Oh yeah...? What?" Both Chie and Guts asked.

"Well, I thought that people show up on the Midnight Channel because they're already over in that world. I mean, it makes sense, right? People show up on TV because they're inside the TV..." Yosuke readjusted his headphones, threatening to fall of his neck. "But Yukiko-san's still here, in our world. We might want to see what this is about." He gave a strong nod, sure of what to do. "Alright, let's meet up at Junes after school."

* * *

They once again were in front of the large television in the Junes Electronics department. More people were looking around at the products close to them, making the trio nervous.

"There's a lot more people here than usual." Yosuke looked around at the customers, more than one taking gazes at the television the three were focused on. "Anyway, we need to know what's going on inside-" Yosuke was drowned out by the other conversations that flooded the area around them.

"How? By talking to that Teddie guy?" Chie herself was hesitant to try to talk with the bear with so many people around.

"You told her about that thing too?" Guts was quickly frustrated with the mere mention of that thing's name. Just being around it pissed him off.

"Better to get the weird stuff out of the way as quick as possible." Yosuke scratched his neck. "But yeah, that's the plan. Too bad there's so many customers around... I forgot there's a sale in the electronics department today." A mental light-bulb flashed above his head. "I got it! C'mere a sec."

Seeing that it was directed to him, Guts walked up to Yosuke.

"Try sticking your hand in and calling him over. I bet that bear's wandering around the entrance anyway." Yosuke strategically placed himself next to the TV, blocking the couple next to them looking at the other televisions. "Hey Chie, stand over here. Make a wall with me."

"A wall?" Chie wasn't sure what Yosuke had planned, but stood to the other side regardless.

Guts phased his hand through the television, waving it to beckon the bear over.

"AH!" Guts felt a bite on his hand. He retracted it back to show teeth marks across the palm.

"Wh-What's wrong!?" Yosuke looked to see the marks on his hand.

"Shhh! Not so loud, you idiot!" Chie saw a few customers looking at them, hearing the ruckus they were making. She then saw what caused the commotion. "D-Dude, is that a bite mark!? Are you okay!?"

"That little shit bit me..." Guts glared at the television, wondering if he could find a way to beat that bear senseless and have him still be useful.

"That stupid bear must've done it..." Chie looked at the television as well, wondering what was beyond that screen. "Hey, you! We know you're in there!"

"~_Ooh ooh, is this a game?~_" Teddie's voice came through the television.

"No, it's not a game! Can you sense anyone inside there right now?" Yosuke scanned the area, again looking for anyone with a curious itch to scratch.

"~_Who's 'anyone'? I'm a lonely little bear like always. This land feels so bear-ren..._~"

"Shut it!" Chie ordered, not in the mood for bad jokes. "So there's no one inside...? You're sure?"

"~_I'm not lying! My nose is running as good as ever!~_"

"Sounds like she's fine, Chie." Guts felt relieved that Yukiko wasn't over there, his body visibly less tense.

"I'm gonna go warn Yukiko anyway," Chie said, insistent on protecting her friend. "Since she'll be busy this weekend helping out at the inn, I doubt she'd go anywhere alone, but still..."

"Yeah... You'll walk with her to school on Monday, right?" Yosuke turned to Chie, his interference job done.

"Sure, I'll go pick her up at her house." Chie nodded, happy to have a plan of action.

"Maybe we'll find out more on tonight's Midnight Channel," Yosuke said, remembering that the rain that had plagued the morning was continuing well into the night. "Cross your fingers that this is all just a misunderstanding..." Guts gave a nod in return. "What's your cell number? I'll call you when I watch it tonight."

The two exchanged cellphone numbers, both happy to have a point of contact that they can reach immediately if anything happened.

"Alright, don't forget to watch tonight." Yosuke put his phone back in his pocket.

"_Was it really Yukiko that showed up? Maybe we're overreacting about all this?_"

The silence in Guts' mind was welcome, but no less strange. Where was that annoying pest's voice? At this point, he'd already be talking.

"_Hey, HEY!_"

"_**S-Sorry, what was that?**_"

"_The fuck's the matter with you? You've been quiet all day._"

"_**That girl... She's really pretty...**_"

"_Who? Chie?"_

"_**Chie... I'll remember that name for the rest of my days...**_"

"_Don't make me tear your wings off, you perverted little fly!_"

* * *

The intersection where they found the body of Saki Konishi was filled with police officers, willing to work despite the late night and the pouring rain. Dojima stood thinking, his black umbrella keeping him dry from the downpour.

"Looks like we've found all we're gonna find here." Adachi, his partner and the young man that Guts and his friends saw the day they passed the crime scene, approached Dojima. "And we've still got nothing that points directly to a suspect..."

"We don't even know if this is a homicide." Dojima shuffled the jacket on his shoulder, held by the hand not used to carry his umbrella.

"Well, what else could it be? There's no way a body could end up like that by accident!" Adachi argued, holding onto the argument.

"I know." Dojima pulled out a cigarette and placed it in his mouth, fumbling in his pocket for a lighter. "We haven't found the cause of death for the first vic, and now we've got a second one just like it..." Dojima lit his cigarette and took a slow drag off it, the ashes falling to the ground. "If this is a murder case, there's no doubt we're dealing with a single perp. But if that's true... what the hell is going on?"

"You know, I thought at first this all spun out of that love triangle." Adachi shook his foot, clearing the ashes that fell onto his foot from Dojima.

"No. That singer—Misuzu Hiiragi- has a solid alibi." Dojima shook his head slowly. "She was performing overseas, and her phone records prove it. And remember, the only reason the scandal went public was because Hiiragi herself broke it to the media." Dojma took another drag, blowing the smoke into Adachi's face. "No one would put themselves under suspicion that way if they had murder on their mind."

"Got a point there..." Adachi waved his hand in the air, dispersing the cloud of nicotine filled smoke.

"Same with Taro Namatame, her husband. No matter how much we shake him down, nothing links him to the murders." Dojima fiddled with the pack in his shirt pocket, contemplating smoking another one. "He's been working in the city for the past six months. Seems he was here recently because of the scandal, but he was swamped with work back home at the time of the incident." Dojima dropped his arm, deciding against smoking further for the time being. "There are eyewitnesses and other evidence placing him at his office the night that Mayumi Yamano died. And we can't find anything that shows Yamano making contact with Namatame before or after her disappearence..."

"You hear Namatame's career has also been killed stone dead?" Adachi switched the hand holding his umbrella, his left arm beginning to get tired. "He's been fired from his position as secretary. He's practically as much of a victim as the Yamano girl."

"Yeah, I agree..." Dojima said, giving a solemn nod. The whole situation tore apart everyone involved. Now it was just getting worse and worse for them. "Then we have the second case, regarding Saki Konishi..." Dojima scratched his nose, feeling an itch that was threatening to become a sneeze. "She's the one who discovered Yamano's corpse... But I don't buy the killer shutting her up as a possible motive. She was killed well after she reported the body, and the culprit didn't hide her. It's like they were meant to be found. The only other connection is that she attended the same school as her daughter of the inn where Yamano holed up."

"Hang on, doesn't your nephew go to the same school as the one Saki Konishi went to?" Adachi felt his heart race as he brought up the point that was becoming a common thought among the police. How Dojima's nephew just so happened to show up when the killings began. Along with how half of the high school had to go to some assembly for accusing the student they thought was responsible for her death, attended by officers who explained how jumping to conclusions harmed the actual investigation. But they could not deny that it was strange that the same student could not be found the day Saki went missing, learned by two teenagers asking people at Junes if they had seen him. Needless to say evidence was piling up against Dojima's nephew.

"But that hardly points to a motive." Dojima acted though he didn't hear what Adachi had said, but the cold glare he gave made the young detective swallow a lump that threatened to choke him. "Coincidences like that are common in a town as small as ours." Dojima stared hard at Adachi, no longer acting like he had not heard what he said. "_Right_?"

Adachi was terrified of Dojima's death glare, one that showed a hidden anger that very few ever saw. And it was now directed at the poor rookie.

"Either way, all we can do now is keep investigating anyone involved with the victims..." Dojima stepped away from Adachi. "Our perp... It has to be someone in Inaba."

"Ooh, is your detective's intuition at work?" Adachi finally managed to take the breath he didn't realize he needed.

Dojima merely glared at him once again.

* * *

Guts found himself in a familiar position, staring into his television as the rain assaulted his window. The black screen bringing a feeling of anxiety, one that made him mentally wish that nothing would appear.

But sadly, something did.

It looked like the set to a low budget TV show, a large fake castle in the back ground. But what was most shocking was Yukiko in the pink princess dress, holding a microphone in her hand.

"~_**Good evening! Tonight, Princess Yukiko has a big surprise!**_~"

"_What... the... ass?_"

"~_**I'm gonna score myself a hot stud! Welcome to 'Not a Dream, Not a Hoax: Princess Yukiko's Hunt for her Prince Charming! And I came prepared!**_~"

"_Don't touch your-! OH GODDAMN IT!_"

The Yukiko on the television had just placed a hand over her 'womanhood', pressing her legs and shoulders together to emphasize her 'curved' figure.

"~_**I've got my lacy unmentionables on, stacked from top to bottom! I'm gonna catch me a whole harem and the best of the lot are gonna be all mine! Whelp, here I go!**_~" 'Yukiko' then ran off into the castle, disappearing from the screen and signaling the end of the broadcast.

Guts' phone rang, a call from the other person with misfortune to have watched the Midnight Channel just then.

"H-Hey, did you see that!?" Yosuke sounded flustered. "That was Yukiko-san for sure! It looked like her... I mean, she even said her name!" He finally brought voice to acceptable levels of volume. "But didn't the stuff she was saying sound weird!? And she looked like she was on some low-budget TV show... Was it like this before, too? What's going on...?"

"Try to call Chie." Guts found his hand was shaking, still shell-shocked by what he just saw.

"Y-You're right! Let's get her to contact Yukiko-san!" Yosuke gave a large sigh. "Tomorrow's Sunday, so let's meet up at Junes first thing in the morning!"

With that, the call ended and Guts made his way to his futon, ready to go to sleep. That was until a familiar voice spoke.

"_**Hey, Guts?**_"

"_What?"_

"_**Was that Yukiko just now?**_"

"_Yep._"

"_**Forget Chie, I like her better.**_"

"_I hate you with every inch of my soul._"

* * *

_**Next**_** _time..._**

"_Which do you like?"_

_"Are you resisting an officer of the law!?"  
_

_"I heard this place sells weapons and armor!"_

_"**She thinks that I'm protecting**_ **_her!?_**"

* * *

Hello once again, this is Plague.

I finally managed to get this chapter done after so long. ;-;

Don't worry about any 'planning periods' for the next few, they are already mapped for the whole flashback, that's not special to Chie. Everyone is going to get one eventually. Just pointing that out there in case any of you indecents start suspecting things!

And Puck is Guts' Persona, because he was ending up in here somehow. XD

Sorry Izanagi, but you've been replaced by a small pixie!

And Guts' track record for killing things super hard is beginning to show. Impalement _and _electrocution... yeesh.


	5. The Inner Voice: The Bad One

'_Guts' hand flew to the young woman's throat, squeezing hard._

"_G-Guts!" The woman grabbed his wrist, trying to pry the hand off and release herself from his death grip. "S-Stop!"_

"_You lied to me..." Guts' grip only tightened. The woman's face turned blue as she fought for air. _

"_**Go ahead... Do it...**__" Guts heard that familiar voice in his head say, this time sounding much more convincing. _

_Guts grabbed the button-up shirt the woman was wearing, tearing it open and exposing her well endowed chest._

"_N-No!" The woman tried to shove her hand in his mouth, hoping to choke him or rip out his tongue. But when she tried, he bit her hard on the finger, breaking the skin and causing blood to fill his mouth._

_Guts merely spat the blood out, the wound going straight to the bone. He looked to the bed beside them._

"_No... No please!" The woman also saw the bed... and knew what was going through his mind._

"_**She's a liar. Liars get punished.**_"

_Guts threw the woman at the bed._

* * *

"AH!" Guts awoke, shocked at what he had just seen in his dream. He was sweating profusely, drops still falling as he rose. He looked down to his right hand, the one clenching the girl's throat in his dream.

"What the fuck was that all about...?" Guts clenched the hand into a fist. "Who was that girl...?"

Just then he realized that he was speaking aloud, the room quickly filled with silence otherwise.

Guts looked to the clock on his wall, seeing that it was just hitting five in the morning. He'd only been asleep five hours? Fuck it. Not like he'd be able to sleep anymore anyway.

Guts rose from his futon, his joints cracking from the lack of movement he gave them the last few hours. He got to his feet and walked through his pitch black room, only able to tell where the switch was due to muscle memory remembering the path to it.

Guts felt that his sleep shirt, a plain white t-shirt, was absolutely soaked in sweat. It stuck to his body and felt freezing when the air hit it. He threw off the shirt, exposing his bare chest, and made his way to the door.

"_I need some fucking coffee..._"

With that thought, he walked down the stairs to the kitchen, each step creaking and groaning under him. He made it down to the main floor, the kitchen directly in front of him. Oddly enough, Dojima was there as well, turned to the small coffee maker that had just finished making a new batch.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Dojima poured himself a mug before turning to Guts, who looked like he had just been through hell, the lack of a shirt that exposed the massive scars all over his body didn't help either. Even though his sister told him about it, it didn't make Dojima anymore comfortable. Especially when some looked as though a wild animal slashed its claws all across his torso.

"You could say that..." Guts walked to the kitchen, retrieving a mug for himself. Dojima offered to pour it for him, to which Guts accepted.

When it was full, Guts immediately took a long drink of it. He didn't seem to care for the heat, which was near boiling levels.

"You okay?" Dojima noticed how Guts seemed to have been shaken up by something, his hand shaking when he picked up the mug and the fact he stared off into space.

"Y-Yeah!" Guts assured Dojima, though it seemed to have been more directed towards himself. "I'm... fine."

"Bad dream." Dojima didn't even need to ask. Being a parent gave him an extensive knowledge on what exactly woke a kid up in the middle of the night. Not that you would guess that Guts was still technically a kid when you looked at him. "So what was it about? Scary monster chasing you? Being naked in front of a crowd? Failing a big test?"

Guts merely looked at Dojima, worried about telling him what he truly saw. Whatever it was, it managed to actually _scare_ him. Something that rarely, if ever, happened.

"It was kind of a variation on the first, I guess." Guts took another drink from his coffee, feeling the bitter taste assault his taste buds.

"Oh yeah?" Dojima raised a brow. "What was different?"

"Guess you could say that _I_ was the monster."

* * *

Later, Guts said goodbye to Dojima, who went to work for the day. But just as he did, Nanako walked down the stairs, who was walking to her spot at the table by the television. Seeing as he had a few hours he decided to sit down with her as she turned on the television, the channel being an early morning news broadcast.

"Oh, good morning." Nanako saw that she was going to have a guest with her for the time being. She was surprised to see her cousin awake that early on a Sunday.

"Hey, Nanako..." Guts took a seat on the couch instead of the table. He merely stared off into space as he contemplated what he and Dojima had talked about the last two hours, seeing on the broadcast that it was just hitting seven.

"_She doesn't think that I'm... right?"_

"_**Are you really asking me? She's right there!**_"

"_I mean, I get if she did at first. But by now she certainly can't..._"

"_**Wait. This is really bothering you, isn't it?**_"

"_I mean, I look all fucked up, with the scars and the metal hand, but I don't think that I've tried to freak her out..."_

"_**... Here, let me help you out with this.**_"

With that, Puck took control of Guts, just enough to ask the question he seemed to hesitant to ask himself. Isn't that what a Persona does for his host? Gives them the ability to deal with stuff they can't themselves?

"Nanako," 'Guts' called out, "Can I ask you something?"

Nanako looked to her cousin, his expression making him look worried over something.

"Sure." Nanako looked over at the scars covering Guts' torso and arms. She felt herself shiver as she peeked at them, trying to keep focus on his face.

"Do you think I'm... scary?" Nanako's face went pale at the question. She wanted to be nice, but she also didn't want to be a liar.

"Well... You kind've are..." She saw Guts' eyes fill with sorrow, looking as though he had just seen a dear loved one die in front of him. "But I think that's a good thing!"

"What are you talking about?" Guts retook control from Puck, bitterness filling his voice.

"Because you can use it to protect people." Nanako spoke with more wisdom than a seven year old should have. "You can make bad people afraid to hurt anyone you care about." With that, she turned back to the TV, happy that she found a good answer. She then changed a few channels before finding something that she liked.

Guts looked down at the table in front of him, contemplating what the young girl had just said. Maybe it was a good thing to be a bit scary sometimes? He'd certainly need a backbone for the days to come. He has to find a serial killer, for god's sake! So if he has to freak a few people out to do so, he's willing to pay the price.

"Thanks, Nanako... You gave me something to think about." Guts gave the girl a warm smile, the first one that he had given anyone and meant it in a friendly way. He turned his attention to the show that was playing, some cartoon about a magical, little-girl detective. "So what're ya watchin'?"

But that didn't mean he couldn't be nice sometimes too.

* * *

A few hours past before Guts got a call from Yosuke, telling him that they were ready to go to Junes. Guts looked to the little girl watching television, hesitant to leave her alone. But he knew that he didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter. So he went upstairs and changed into decent day clothes, a black button-up shirt and jacket. He also changed into a pair of black pants. When he went back downstairs, he looked to Nanako, who had just noticed that he seemed to be leaving.

"Are you going somewhere?" Nanako looked over Guts, curious as to where he was going. Seeing that he was hesitant to answer, Nanako continued. "I'll be fine by myself." She then changed the channel to the news once again, seeing the forecast for the weather. "Oh, the sun's gonna come out. I should do some laundry." She then turned to see Guts still standing there. "Uh... Weren't you going somewhere?"

"R-Right!" With that Guts walked out the door, feeling the sunlight wash over him. It was a stark contrast to how the weather was the days he had just arrived. It was actually pleasant.

"_But now I gotta go do some unpleasant things._"

* * *

Guts was sitting at a table in the Junes food-court, waiting for Yosuke. All he said was that he would meet him there, leaving Guts annoyed at the long time that the other male in the group was taking.

"_**Geez... Where is this guy?**_"

"_Don't know. Asshole said he's got something to show us and he didn't even show up himself._"

"_**SOOOO BOOOORED!**_"

"_Will you at least be quiet!? You're giving me a migraine..._"

"Sorry for the holdup." Yosuke then walked up, holding something behind his back. He was wearing a white leather jacket with an orange V-neck shirt underneath it, along with dark green pants and brown combat boots. "I found some stuff we can use in the closet at home." Yosuke cracked a smirk as he said that. "Take a look at these!"

With that, he pulled out what he was holding behind him. A katana and a large knife.

"I've got a Persona, but you guys'll need weapons if we go in there." Yosuke's smile grew into a dumb grin. "So, which one strikes your fancy?"

"The sword." Guts found himself eying it.

"Ahh, you've got discerning taste." Yosuke brought it closer for Guts to examine. "This is a Junes exclusive. The blade's fake, though..."

With that, Guts' gave a glare to Yosuke, who visibly shivered under it.

"What am I supposed to do with a _fake sword_?" Guts grit his teeth.

"As for me..." Yosuke went on, ignoring Guts' complaint. "Wait, maybe both would be good, too. K-Kinda like this!?" With that, Yosuke began posing with both the knife and katana in his hand. "Or like this!?" He struck another pose. "What about this!?" This time, he slashed in the air, giving what he thought were impressive moves.

Unbeknownst to the two, a patrolman was watching the whole even take place.

"Two suspicious males; one young, the other looking to be in his mid-thirties. One armed with multiple weapons. Requesting immediate backup." The police approached the two.

"Huh...? Ohhh crap, I mean..." Yosuke ceased his posing, his hands flying to his back and hiding the weapons. "No... No no no no, this isn't what it looks like. I didn't steal it!" Yosuke then put the pieces of the puzzle together. "Uh, I guess that's not what matters... A-Anyways, we're not doing anything bad! We're just two ordinary kids who like weapons and... Ugh, that doesn't sound right either. Ahaha..."

The police officer then held the button back on his radio.

"The young suspect shows mental instability, requesting backup." He then turned to Guts. "Is this guy bothering you, sir?"

Guts merely looked at Yosuke, who had a face that you would think had a gun pointed at it.

"Nah, he's just doin' his job." Guts shrugged. "He's trying to sell me stupid shit." Yosuke saw the look Guts was giving him, one of frustration and annoyance.

"Wait." The officer's eyes went wide. "I-Is this a street deal!?"

"What!?" Guts and Yosuke felt a wave of panic hit them. The officer then pulled out his baton.

"Put the weapons down now!" He pointed the black, plastic stick towards the two. "We'll listen to your story at the station."

"**Fuck**. **That**!" Guts grit his teeth. This asshole was wasting their time! He grabbed the officer by the collar, lifting him in the air. "If I were you, I'd forget what I just saw and get the _fuck_ out of here!"

"Are you resisting an officer of the law!?" The police officer then pulled out his pair of handcuffs. "Y-You're under arrest!"

"Then do it. Arrest me." Guts tightened his grip of the officer's uniform, giving the scared man a cruel sneer.

"Uh... Dude?"

"What!?" Guts growled as he looked to Yosuke, who was looking somewhere behind him.

"Let him go... Seriously." Yosuke seemed pale as he spoke.

"Heh. Why would I..." Guts looked to where Yosuke was staring... and saw five police officers, batons at the ready. "Ah shit..."

* * *

"You didn't seem the type to pull a stupid stunt like this." Dojma drilled into the two, who were taken to the police station as suspects. "You know what's been going on around town. We got men stationed everywhere." Dojima rubbed his forehead and with a hand. "For god's sake... You're lucky I was around, or this would have ended up on your permanent record."

"We're sorry..." Yosuke looked to his feet the whole time, hopelessness spread across his face.

"_Shit! They took the weapons away..._"

"_**That's what you're worried about right now!?**_"

The three then overheard a conversation between a plainclothes man and a uniformed officer as they walked past.

"Wait, so the one who disappeared is the Amagi girl...?"

"Seems like it... But she's just a high schooler, you know. Could be that she decided to run away from home..."

"Hey," Yosuke whispered to Guts, tapping his leg with his hand, "did he say Amagi...? Then... She really is..."

"Hm?" Dojima grunted, overhearing Yosuke. "Who's what now?"

"Oh, uh, nothing..." Yosuke was as white as a ghost.

"I'm sure you've seen on the news that there's an investigation in progress... We're sensitive about certain things." Dojima fiddled with the cigarette packet in his shirt pocket, fighting the urge to smoke in front of his nephew. "You're free to go. But this better not happen again." With that, Dojima walked away, signalling the end of the ordeal.

The two made their way out of the police station, getting close to the front door before bumping into a young detective. Guts seemed to think he was familiar, but could not place where he knew him from.

"Whoa... Pardon me." The detective luckily kept the cup of coffee he held from falling to the floor. He then looked at Guts, thinking he too looked familiar. "Huh? Aren't you the guy staying at Dojima-san's place?" Guts gave a nod.

"Oh...!" Yosuke cut into the conversation. "Uh, can we ask you something?" The detective turned to Yosuke. "It's about Yukiko-san... I mean, Yukiko Amagi of the Amagi Inn... Did something happen to her?"

"Huh? Oh, umm... Am I allowed to say...?" The detective looked nervous as he tried to think what he was able to say. "Well, if you're friends with Ms. Amagi... Keep this between us, okay?" The two gave a nod in response. "We got a call from Ms. Amagi's parents yesterday evening saying they couldn't find her anywhere. Since it was the weekend, the workers at the inn were extremely busy, and no one saw Ms. Amagi around that time."

Guts marched towards the door, leaving the detective and Yosuke behind.

"H-Hey! Where are you going?" Yosuke said a quick goodbye to the detective and ran to catch up his friend. "Dude, what're you doing?"

"She's in there..." Guts growled.

"I know that!" Yosuke walked in front of Guts, stopping him from going any further.

"Get out of my way." Guts walked closer to Yosuke, who was dwarfed by the taller male. However, Yosuke stood his ground.

"What are you going to do? Jump in there and pull her out yourself?" Yosuke tried talking sense into his friend. They needed a plan!

"I was, but you won't move." Anywhere Guts tried stepping, Yosuke interrupted it by shifting into the gesture.

"Dude, we need to know what to do when we get in there!" Yosuke slid to the left as Guts began to take a step there. "We can't just fly by the seat of our asses on this."

"What the hell are you two doing!?" Yosuke turned to see Chie standing by the front door, looking a mixture of angry and afraid. "You idiots better have a damn good explanation for this!"

"We got picked up when Yosuke got some weapons." Guts answered, pushing Yosuke out of the way and meeting Chie by the front door.

"You were the one who assaulted the officer." Yosuke dusted off his jacket.

"Y-You what!?" Chie could not believe what she just heard. He may have looked like it, but Guts wouldn't just assault people for no reason! At least, she thought so.

"I grabbed his shirt, he's fine." Guts was staring at the front door, eager to leave. Every minute they were there, Yukiko was getting closer to ending up as a corpse.

"Anyways," Yosuke interjected, trying to drop the subject, "something's up with Yukiko-san!"

"Huh?" Chie gave a confused look. "You know already? I kept calling her cell, but she didn't pick up..."

"She's missing. The cops just confirmed it." Guts contemplated just leaving the two and going alone.

"I guess we've got no choice but to go now..." Yosuke sighed deeply. "But that aside, the cops are saying some weird stuff. They think Yukiko-san's hiding to 'lay low'... Apparently Yukiko-san's mom collasped because that announcer lady bitched her out." Yosuke shrugged. "They think that gives her a motive, and the fact that the announcer died right after makes her even more suspicious.

"WHAT!?" Chie looked ready for war at that point. "They think Yukiko did it!? What the hell is wrong with them!?"

"Dude, don't snap at me!" Yosuke raised his hands in the air. "Yukiko's the victim here, dammit, not the suspect..."

"It doesn't matter!" Guts growled at the two. "She's in there, we're gonna get her out!"

"R-Right! That's the important thing!" Chie pumped a fist in the air.

"With the police totally on the wrong track, we've gotta handle it ourselves." Yosuke gave a small nod.

"I'm going too!" Chie announced, a look of determination on her face. "And that's final! I'm going to save Yukiko no matter what!"

"Are you going to be all right...?" Yosuke noticed the obsession Chie had to save her friend. "But man... They just confiscated our weapons. We can't go in empty-handed..."

"Weapons...? I know just the place!" Chie had excitement written all over her.

* * *

The air was hot and thick as they entered the store. Weapons of all sorts were hung on the walls, from battle axes to hunting knives. The old man manning the register looked worn and grizzled, a large X-shaped scar ran across his face. He had a white sweat band around his head and orange hair that fought to stay on his head.

"Here we are!" Chie said, leading the two inside.

"Wh-What kinda shop is this...?" Yosuke looked around at the weapons on the walls.

"A metal works... I guess?" Chie inspected the large axe next to her. "They sell all sorts of metal crap... like katanas and stuff."

"Doesn't that seem weird to you!?" Yosuke stared nervously into his reflection in the broadsword he was looking at. "Why would you know about a place like this anyway?" He wiped off the sweat threatening to slide down and blind him. "Oh, I get it... You watched one too many kung-fu movies and..."

"It's not like that at all!" Chie poked Yosuke hard in the chest. "I overheard some guys in our class about it. They said this place sells weapons and armor." She turned to inspect a suit of armor hung up on a stand. "Here, this one looks good. But it might be too heavy..."

"I dunno, Chie..." Yosuke grimaced. "I still think it's too dangerous. I know how you feel, but-"

"You don't!" Chie glared at Yosuke. "You don't know shit about how I feel... Yukiko might die from this, for crying out loud!" She stomped a foot. "I'm going, and that's that!"

"Fine." Guts laid against the wall, finding the only spot with no weapons hung on it. "Just don't get in our way."

"Psh, I'll be fine." Chie waved off the threat. "My reflexes are second to none!"

"Listen..." Yosuke shook his head. "I'm not kidding around here! We almost died the last time we were in there! If you're not going to listen to our warnings, we're leaving you here!" Yosuke then calmed down, releasing the tension his body held. "If you insist on coming, just make sure you have something to protect yourself."

"Alright..." Chie grimaced, looking down to her feet. She then turned to the man behind the counter, choosing her equipment.

" But man, what should we get...?" Yosuke turned to Guts.

"_We_?" Guts asked sarcastically. "Last I checked, you gotta magic demon thing to help you."

"Y-You're not really gonna let me go in without anything to defend myself, are you? Haha... heh."

Guts' hard gaze answered for him.

"You're not a nice man..." Yosuke looked to the ground. "But you know, if you wear that stuff around town, you'll just get picked up again. But it's not like you can waltz into Junes with a sack full of gear and expect no one to notice, either..."

"Why not conceal them under our uniforms?" Chie offered. "I don't think people would notice."

"Okay... Let's try that." Yosuke sounded as though he did not have much faith in the plan. He then turned to Guts. "Alright, let's split up and get ready." He gave a smirk. "The store'll be crowded until the afternoon sale ends, and if we walk around together, the cops might get suspicious."

"Then I'll see you guys at the Junes food court!" Chie announced.

With that, the two left Guts in the store, who was scouring for anything that looked particularly nasty.

"_**You seem scary happy to be doing this...**_"

"_An axe? No, blade's not long enough. A hammer? Nah, need something with a bit more bite to it."_

"_**I'm worried for you...**_"

"_Huh, you say somethin'?_"

His eyes then rested on an elegant looking katana, the blade shimmering in the dull light of the store.

"_It's perfect..._"

"_**I think that's a fake, Guts.**_"

"_That blade looks like it could shear a tank in two._"

"_**That blade looks like it's plastic.**_"

"_The hilt looks like it makes holding the thing a dream."_

"_**Wait... That's balsa-wood! What kind of cheap operation does this guy have!?**_"

In the end, Guts purchased the sword along with a shirt of chain mail. The old man looking at Guts as he took the money he needed to purchase the items.

Guts then made his way out of the store, not seeing the smirk that the man had as he left.

* * *

Guts talked with Chie and Yosuke outside of the store about the plan. They all agreed to meet at the food court in half an hour and departed from each other. Just as Guts took a few steps away, a bright light flashed. When it ceased, Guts saw an elegant blue door hovering slightly above ground. He looked around at the people passing by to see no one noticing the door. He saw the key in his pocket glowing.

"**So it finally begins...**" Guts heard a voice besides Puck saw. "**I'm finally **_**free**_**.**" This voice sounding much more menacing than the child-like voice of the pixie.

"~**Now, if you'll give me a moment of your time...~**" Guts heard Igor say from the door.

Guts found himself in the Velvet Room once again, Igor and Margaret in their usual places.

"We have been expecting you." Igor said formally, his smile just as wide as always. Disturbingly so. "The catastrophe that is headed your way... It has already taken human lives in its approach towards you." Igor clenched his hand on his cane. "But you have nothing to fear. You already have the power to fight against it." He gave a soft chuckle. "It seems that the time for you to use your Persona has come..."

Just as he was mentioned, Puck appeared next to Guts' ear, smiling proudly.

"How can I use him? He's a pipsqueak!" Guts' batted Puck away from his ear like a pesky mosquito. "He use anything useful?"

"Your Persona ability is that of the wild card." Margaret answered coldly. "If you strengthen your bonds properly, their power will help you overcome any ordeal. Our role is to facilitate that."

"That's where I come in!" Puck flew to Guts' shoulder, making himself comfortable. "I can detect the feelings of others and make people happy." He gave a small smile.

"So your job is damage control for when I piss people off?" Guts rolled his shoulder, knocking the pixie off.

"Oh don't be so hard on yourself!" Puck said, now resting on his head. "You're not that big a jackass!"

"My contribution..." Igor interrupted, "is to for tell the actions of your id."

"My what?" Guts ran his metal hand through his hair, wiping the annoying excuse for a Persona off of him.

"Your id." Margaret repeated. "It is the darker parts of the soul. It is the part that wishes to kill, rape, steal, and generally spread chaos. It is a part that is in the hearts of all people."

"So if it's in everybody, why do I need to know about it?" Guts gave up and let the small pixie rest on his other shoulder.

"Your id is one that is amplified by a dark spirit in your soul." Igor placed a hand to his heart. "It is becoming more powerful than it should, slowly gaining control of your mind." Igor then took the hand away and returned it to the cane.

"What are you talking about? 'Dark spirit in my soul'? Quit spouting bullshit and give me a straight answer!" Guts gave a sneer as he tensed his body, ready to beat one of them to a pulp.

"You have been tainted by a dark event in your past." Margaret took a sip from her wineglass. "That event, you could say, 'shifted' your soul towards your id's favor." She placed her glass on the table. "Our job is to not let it consume you by warning of its attempts to take over your physical form."

"Which will be soon." Igor interrupted, getting Guts' attention once again. "You must not let that happen." He then turned to Margaret, the woman giving a nod before displaying the book in her hand.

"This is the Persona Compendium." She waved a hand around it. "It will allow you to see the strength of your or, others', bonds and Personas." She turned to a page in the book, it showing a picture of Guts shaking Yosuke's hand when they first agreed to solve the case. "You friend is of the Magician Arcana." She closed the book. "Oh, and one more thing." She turned to a familiar girl sitting next to Igor. "I would like to introduce a new resident of the Velvet Room, who will be helping you on your journey."

Guts saw that it was the same girl he met the day he arrived in Inaba, only this time she was wearing a blue hat with a blue shoulder bag. The girl said nothing, merely staring at the floor.

"Marie?" Margaret frowned at the girl's behavior.

"Yeah, I can hear. Nice to meet you." Marie gave an uninspired wave towards Guts.

"_She seems like a bitch..._"

"Hey! That's not nice, you know!" Puck smacked Guts' ear. "Don't you remember how she helped you?"

"Huh?" Marie looked confused at what the Pixie-ona said. "Ohhhh... Maybe. That'd explain why you're so familiar." She pressed a finger to her lips as she became engrossed with thought.

"Excuse her. This is Marie." Margaret gave a small bow in her seat. "Her soul is still very young and-"

"Shut up!" Marie snapped at Margaret. "Don't tell him any more about me than you need to."

"As you can see..." Margaret grimaced. "She may be brusque at times, but please understand that she is only an apprentice and forgive her for her impoliteness."

"Long as she watches that tongue around me, we'll be good." Guts felt Puck poke his shoulder, looking down to see him frown at his tone.

"Marie will be helping you with one of the bonds you will inevitably make. One with the 'outside world'." Margaret closed her eyes, enveloped in a peace only she felt. "Marie will contact you at a later date."

Igor gave a chuckle.

"Do you recall my words to you before? 'The coming year is a turning point in your destiny... If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost'." Igor nodded to himself. "I meant precisely what I said. Defeat in battle is not the only way your journey may come to an end..." Igor looked directly into Guts' eyes. "Please do not forget this."

"I won't, old man." Guts crossed his arms across his chest.

"When next we meet, you will come here of your own will." Igor chuckled. "I look forward to it." He waved his hand. "Until then... farewell."

* * *

Guts found himself at the Junes food court, walking over to Yosuke and Chie. Both were in their school uniforms, Guts too. The two looked anxious about their 'disguises'.

"_I'm really getting tired of this teleporting bullshit._"

"_**I think it's pretty cool! Certainly beats walking everywhere.**_"

"_Don't you fly?_"

"_**... SHUT UP!**_"

"We really stick out..." Yosuke nervously looked around, hoping no patrolmen were near. "Guess it doesn't help that we're in our school uniforms on a Sunday." Yosuke gave a sigh. "The sale should end soon, so that'll get rid of some of the people wandering around here." He took a deep breath. "Alright... let's get going." He turned to Chie. "It's not too late to-"

"I'm going!" She said, standing her ground and not giving an inch.

"Fine." Yosuke frowned. "But don't push yourself, got it!?"

The three then all went to the Electronics and entered through the television.

* * *

They found themselves back at the studio, Teddie whimpering in the corner.

"What're you doing?" Yosuke asked, confused at Teddie's actions.

"Can't you tell? I'm thinking about stuff." Teddie gave a sigh and slapped his head.

"What could you possible be thinking off?" Guts asked rudely. "You're a bear. The most you should be thinking of is if you shit in the woods or not."

"I'm thinking about where I come from." Teddie admitted, sniffling slightly. "I've been deli-bear-ating it over for a long time now." He gave a small smile. "Hey, that wasn't a bad joke. Heehee...!"

To the others, it was pure torture.

"So... did you figure anything out?" Yosuke asked curiously. He then shrugged. "Eh, it's probably useless to think about it too much. You're a living costume. Inside of your skull's probably empty."

Teddie then ran up to Yosuke, shouting "How rude!" He then looked to the ground, unable to think of a counter to it. "You're right, though. I try and try but nothing comes out of my head."

"Will you guys shut up!?" Chie stomped her foot. "Now's not the time for stupid jokes!" She then looked directly at Teddie. "Listen... Someone came here yesterday, right?"

"Wow! There's a girl with a better nose than me!?" Teddie stared at Chie in astonishment. "What's your name, Miss?"

"M-Miss?" Chie now was confused by the bear. "Uh... I'm Chie. But never mind that! Tell me more about that 'someone'!"

"I think it happened a little after I talked with you guys. After that, it felt like someone was here." Teddie's brow furrowed, trying to remember when it exactly happened.

"Is it Yukiko-san!?" Yosuke grabbed Teddie by the shoulders.

"I don't know." The bear admitted. "I haven't looked..." He then turned and pointed in the direction he felt the presence. "That's probably where they are."

"Alright," Guts announced, "let's get this shit done."

"Wait!" Teddie called as they began walking in the direction he pointed. The bear then pulled out two pairs of glasses, one orange and the other a dark gray. "These are for looking through the fog over here. I made them when you guys said you'd be coming back." He turned to Chie. "Sorry, I don't have a pair for you yet, I didn't know you'd be coming with them."

"Whatever!" Chie said impatiently. "Let's just get going already!"

* * *

They arrive at the source of the presence, a large Disney-style castle that they all remembered seeing on the Midnight Channel.

"What the...? A castle!?" Chie exclaimed in shock. "Y'think this is the place they showed on TV last time?"

"You're positive that no one's behind a camera for that bizarre midnight program?" Yosuke turned towards Teddie, who was just catching up the three.

"Program...? I don't know." Teddie was not sure what the brown haired boy was talking about. Maybe people on your side can see stuff in this world. It might be that." He waved around himself, indicating that no other person was there. "And I told you before! There's only me and Shadows here! There's no 'camera' stuff going on. This world has been like this from the beginning."

"'From the beginning'...? That's what we don't understand!" Yosuke put a hand to his head to deal with a oncoming headache.

"I dunno... Can you guys explain everything about your world?" Teddie asked simply. "I've never seen this 'program' thingy before. So I don't know."

"Well... is that really what's happening?" Chie looked to Teddie, curious about what he meant. "Are we really looking into this world?" Chie looked to the castle. "Because the first time Yukiko showed up on that channel was before she disappeared. Doesn't that seem off?" Her face went beet-red. "I mean, Yukiko saying stuff like 'score myself a hot stud'? That's not like her at all!"

"'Score'? 'Stud'...?" Teddie turned to Chie.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either..." Yosuke shivered. "Yukiko-san would never say anything like that." A sudden realization hit him. "I wonder... Is this like what happened to me last time...?" He could not remember how his Shadow acted before facing it and getting Jiraiya.

"Yep. Exactly." Guts was quick to say. "You begged to get a pole shoved up your ass and begged to get ridden like a race horse."

Yosuke went pale.

"There's a lot of stuff I still don't get." Teddie said honestly. "But after hearing your story... I think that 'program' happens because of the person who appears on it. Or something like that..."

"So... Yukiko is producing that show herself?" Chie looked back towards the castle. She shook her head as the thoughts just made her head hurt. "Ugh, I don't get this at all!" She then looked to Teddie. "Hey... Do you feel Yukiko's presence from inside?"

"I'm pretty sure." Teddie nodded. "So, um, what's this 'scoring with a hot stud' thing...?"

"Yukiko's here... I'm going on ahead!" Chie then rushed into the castle, leaving the three others in her group behind.

"Hey, wait! Don't go alone!" Yosuke reached out a hand to grab her, but she slipped just out of his reach.

"Wait!" Guts called out to her as well. But it was too late, she was already through the front gate and somewhere inside.

Guts punched the stone wall next to them, leaving a deep indent of his metal hand and thick cracks.

"GODDAMN IT!" Guts himself then rushed in, leaving Yosuke and Teddie

"Wait, Guts!" He too was gone. "Oh come on!" Yosuke and Teddie soon followed.

* * *

Guts was in the main hall of the castle, an elegant room with ornate style furnishings everywhere. The hall was lined with large windows that were only a few feet from each other, each one just showing fog. Guts ran through the halls, trying to find Chie.

"_Where is that dumb bitch!?_"

"_**Geez... I know she's your friend and all but-**_"

"_She's not my friend! She's a moron that's gonna get herself killed!_"

Just as soon he said that, Shadows had appeared.

They were not the blobs that he encountered the other times, nor the giant mouths. They were all in the forms of knights in medieval armor, their masks covering their helmets. They clanked and clanged as they approached Guts, their weapons at the ready. One Shadow had its spear directly in his face, ready to drive it through his brain.

"Get outta my way!" With that, Guts unsheathed his sword and swung at the creature's head.

* * *

Yosuke and Teddie had barely managed to miss Guts as they entered. Now they were in the same hall he was previously in. Yosuke had summoned his Persona to his side, Jiraiya floating next to them as Yosuke tried to find his friends.

What they instead found was the aftermath of Guts.

Shadows in knights' armor laid across the floor, ooze spilled everywhere. Some were bent and broken, pieces torn from them. Others merely laid on the floor, looking as though nothing had touched them. They filled the hall the three were in, getting close to a flight of stairs with a red carpet laid across them, stained deep with the fluid.

"Yep, he was definitely through here." Yosuke's Persona look to its user, worried about who he was talking about.

They climbed the stairs, seeing more broken knights and slime caking the walls. They tried to not slide as they slime made the stairs slick and slippery, Teddie falling down more than once. They finally managed to make it to the next floor, seeing a large group of Shadows coming towards them.

"Jiraiya!" Yosuke ordered his Persona.

Jiraiya then threw massive shurikens at the monsters, shearing a large number of them in two. Yosuke could actually hear them speak as they got closer.

"_**Protect the princess... Must keep her safe...**_" The monotone they had sent shivers down his spine. It sounded so _wrong_.

Jiraiya continued to bombard the Shadows with shurikens, killing many, but the horde did not shrink.

"There's too many!" Teddie shouted, terrified.

"Jiraiya!" Yosuke shouted, feeling like a reflex. "Use Garu!"

The Persona gave a nod. It then put its hands in front of itself, the palms facing the Shadows. The sound of a tornado roared as the shurikens spun, creating a massive vacuum.

The Shadows unlucky enough to be caught in it were torn to shreds, the sound of metal crinkling and breaking flooded the room. The vacuum itself turned a deep black as the ooze was spilled from the Shadows.

Seeing that its job was done, Jiraiya ceased the spinning. The vacuum ended, dropping twisted metal and slime onto the expensive looking carpet.

"Shit..." Yosuke was impressed by his Persona's power.

With that, they continued the exploration, trying to find their friends. Any Shadows that tried to stop them were quickly put down by Jiraiya's shurikens.

"Where are they?" Yosuke saw that the flood of bodies and slime lessened as they went further, hopefully meaning that they were getting close.

"Sensei really let them have it, huh?" Teddie suddenly asked.

"Yeah... Wait. Sensei?" Yosuke looked at the small bear seeing him with a small smile on his face. "Dude, you show him respect and don't give me any!?"

* * *

Guts picked up the battleaxe from the Shadow he had just kicked to the ground, a heavy slam with his foot in the breastplate that took it down with out much issue. It writhed on the ground, trying to reach for its axe.

"Aw, you want your toy?" Guts lifted the weapon above his head. "Well here ya go!" He then drove it into the creature's helmet, splitting its mask apart. Slime shot out and covered Guts, who was already painted with the stuff.

Guts dropped the axe as it dissolved, its owner dead. He then looked to the splintered mess of the katana he was using until then. It was a piece of junk. The blade broke the first time he even tried to use it. He had to kill his way up there with nothing but his bare-hands. He then looked to the Shadow next to the one he just dealt with, its helmet completely caved in. Then to the large double door entrance in front of him.

"Dude!" Yosuke finally caught up to Guts, seeing him caked in slime. "We've been looking all over for you!" Yosuke then scanned the two Shadows by the door, seeing their wounds. "I really think you should get some therapy after this..."

Teddie then sniffed the air, picking up a familiar scent.

"Chie-chan's through there!" Teddie pointed at the door.

Without so much as a peep, Guts gave a heavy kick to the doors. This time breaking the hinges and causing them to fall to the ground.

They saw Chie standing in the middle of a large room, looking like the ballroom. She merely stared at the ceiling, at the chandelier that hung above them.

"Chie!" Yosuke called out. "Are you all right!?" He approached when she said nothing. "Chie...?"

"~_**She said that red looks good on me...**_~" A voice that sounded like Yukiko said, its tone distant.

"Yukiko-san!?" Yosuke called out, confused about hearing the voice. How could they have heard her? They were probably nowhere near her!

"~_**I hated my name... Yukiko... 'Snow'... Snow is cold and it melts quickly... It's transient... worthless... But it's perfect for me. Apart from inheriting the inn, I'm worthless... Still... Chie told me, 'Yukiko, you look good in red...'~**_"

"Are these... Yukiko-san's inner thoughts?" Yosuke followed Chie's eyes to the chandelier, memorized by what he was hearing. "I remember hearing Saki-senpai's, too..."

"Yeah, this castle is probably here because of this Yukiko person." Teddie said, wiping a bit of slime from his foot that he realized he stepped in.

"Yukiko..." Chie was only able to register that someone said her name, still off in a distant world of her own.

"~_**Chie was the only one who gave my life meaning... She's bright an strong, and she can do anything... She has everything that I don't... Compared to Chie, I'm... I'm... Chie protects me... She looks after my worthless life... And I... I don't deserve any of it... Chie is so kind...~**_"

"Yukiko, I-I..." Tears brimmed in Chie's eyes, unable to do anything else but look to the floor, letting them drop on the carpet.

"'_**Chie is so kind,' huh? What a joke.**_"

"Wh-What!?" Chie's eyes shot to the voice that had just insulted her. Seeing another her with a dark aura and bright yellow eyes.

"Oh man... Is that...!?" Yosuke felt his spine go cold as he looked at the Shadow.

"It's just like Yosuke!" Teddie hid behind Yosuke, who was hiding behind Jiraiya. "She lost control over her suppressed self! Now it's a Shadow!"

"_**Are we talking about **_**that**_** Yukiko!? She says I'm protecting **_**her**_**!?**_" The Shadow Chie laughed hard, its hands on its stomach as it mockingly gasped for air. "_**She says she's worthless!**_" It then looked directly at Chie, boring itself into her soul. "_**That's how it should be, right?**_"

"Wh-What're you saying?" Chie could not believe what she was hearing... or _seeing_.

"_**Yukiko's sooo good looking... sooo fair-skinned... sooo feminine... She's the one all the guys drool over.**_" The Shadow had a bitter look of jealousy, her face contorted into a scowl. Then, it melted into one of _pleasure, _biting her thumb as her face went red. "_**When Yukiko looked at me with such jealously... Man did I get a charge out of that.**_" The Shadow then made and fist and punched her palm, its face in a cruel smirk. "_**Yukiko knows the score. She can't do anything if I'm not around... I'm better than her... Much, much better!**_"

"No! I have never thought that!" Chie stomped her feet, denying what she was hearing.

"Wh-What're we gonna do?" Yosuke looked to Guts, who seemed out of it. He just stared at the Shadow with a look of... _hunger_.

"We need to protect Chie-chan right now!" Teddie announced, coming out from behind Yosuke and pointing at the girl and her Shadow. All three followed Teddie's command and ran towards the two.

"N-No, don't come near me!" Chie begged, her eyes filled with terror and shame. "Don't look at me!"

The Shadow then turned to Guts, who looked like a rabid animal mere inches from its food.

"_**You couldn't even stop the new kid from falling head over heels for her.**_" The Shadow pointed at Guts. "_**Now look, he's willing to put us both in the ground just to save her! They don't give a shit about us!**_"

"No... No, this isn't me!" Chie screamed, throwing a punch at her Shadow. But all she did was miss and fall to her knees.

"W-Wait, stupid!" Yosuke commanded. "Don't say anything else like that!"

The Shadow gave a chuckle.

"_**That's right. I'm the one who can't do anything alone... I can't win as a girl, let alone as a person... I'm pathetic.**_" The Shadow then put her hands over her 'heart'. "_**But Yukiko... She depends on me... That's why she's my friend... I'll never loosen my grip on her... She's too important to me.**_"

"No... That is not how I think of her..." Chie rose to her feet, defiant to the accusations.

"_**So, you're just gonna turn your back and deny me again?**_" Shadow Chie chuckled once more. "_**But things are different now. When the times comes... I'll be the one left standing. You won't mind, right? I'm still you!**_"

"Shut up! You're..." Chie shook her head violently.

"CHIE, NO!" Yosuke screamed in vain.

"You're not me!"

The room went dead silent. Not even a mouse could have been heard. That was, until the Shadow started laughing.

"_**Heehee... Ahahahahaha!**_" The aura around it grew thicker, consuming it.

The aura then exploded, knocking Chie back and behind the Guts and Yosuke.

The Shadow had transformed just like Yosuke's. It was a yellow-leather wearing, stone dominatrix sitting atop a tower of school girls. In its hand was a long whip that coiled around its entire body. A flowing, gray cape slithered across the floor as it hung from the Shadow, under its command.

"Chie!" Yosuke called out to his injured friend, who was once again out cold.

"I-It's coming!" Teddie shouted as he saw the Shadow getting closer, the bottom school girl awkwardly moving its legs forward. "You have to use your powers to save Chie-chan!"

"Please, God, don't let my first time be with my friend!" Yosuke pleaded, thinking it was in his head as he looked at the provocatively dressed monster.

The Shadow had heard what he said and became enraged.

"_**So I'm not good enough, huh!?**_" She raised her whip in the air ready to strike.

"Yo, she-bitch!" The Shadow turned to Guts, a scowl draped across his face. He cracked his knuckles, the loud pops echoing in the empty room.

"Let's go."

* * *

_**Next Time  
**  
_

_"I need something that won't break."  
_

_"My prince, my dear prince!"_

_"That sword..."_

_"**I ain't Prince Charming. I'm the Black**** Knight.**"_

* * *

_A/N_

Hello all, Plague this is.

I finally got to Chie's Shadow! I still have a bunch to cover, but I got there!

And Guts tries to be a nice guy to Nanako... Weird image, right?

Though it looks like he enjoys killing Shadows... _a lot_.

And I changed what Igor and Margaret are there for. Mainly because of reasons I can't fully explain yet, but I did a start in the chapter. Just know that everyone's favorite _hound of Hell_ is coming. That nightmare wasn't just there for shock value...


	6. The Inner Voice: Screaming in Rage

"_**What do you guys think you're doing!? Trying to defend the 'real me'.**_" Shadow Chie cracked her whip in the air. "_**Then you're gonna pay the price!**_"

With that, she cracked her whip once again, aiming at Yosuke.

It hit its mark, biting into his chest and causing him to cough up droplets of blood.

"GAH!" Yosuke fell to his knees, the pain overwhelming his senses. Jiraiya felt the pain as well, grasping at its own chest.

Guts saw his friend in pain, but seemed to be more focused on the fact Jiraiya was harmed.

"Damn it, Hanamura!" Guts growled at Yosuke. "Keep that thing alive!"

"It's not like I made it hit me!" Yosuke rubbed the wound. His chest felt like he was hit by a truck going full speed. He was surprised that he could even get back up. What he also noticed was how aggressive Guts had been. He seemed to have had a hair trigger the entire time they were in the castle.

Yosuke got to his feet, Jiraiya floating down next to him. He pointed a finger towards the Shadow and gave the command for Garu. The Persona followed said order, preparing to unleash the vacuum once again, but found that something had wrapped itself around its arms, preventing it from finishing the attack.

"What the hell!?" Yosuke saw that it was the Shadow's cape that had immobilized his Persona, and getting tighter. Yosuke felt his own arms being crushed as the cape continued to tighten. The pressure was so bad that he was forced to his knees, feeling his bones bend within his arms and getting close to snapping.

Yosuke then felt the pressure go loose around his arms, the tension melting away. He looked to see Teddie, a piece of the cape in his mouth and chewing on it, as Jiraiya pulled the disconnected remainders off of its arms. It seemed to glare at the Shadow, a look of vengeance burning in its eyes.

Guts, meanwhile, was caught in an onslaught from the whip, getting repeated blows from the weapon that he blocked with his forearms. Guts felt his bones cracking, and not just his arms as the force spread through his whole body, but he stood his ground. Blood spilled from his mouth, his internal injuries getting worse with every smash from the whip.

"_**Guts! Get out of the way or something! You're gonna die!**_"

"_Not yet..._"

Guts waited as Shadow Chie lifted the whip far above her head, readying her arm for a heavy strike. She snapped her arm, launching the weapon with almost lightning speed.

"_NOW!_"

Yosuke saw the blow strike Guts right in the head, his head twisting back. Guts refused to move, standing completely still with his head looking away from Yosuke. Shadow Chie merely laughed, convinced that she snapped his neck.

"_**Now... To deal with the asshole who broke my DVD!**_" Shadow Chie turned her attention to Yosuke.

"Y-You're not still mad about that, are you!?" Yosuke peeked out from behind Jiraiya, who wanted to protect his user.

"_**IT WAS THE ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION! IT HAD OVER TWENTY HOURS OF BONUS FOOTAGE!**_" Shadow Chie had murder in her eyes, fully intending to make Yosuke suffer for his crimes against kung-fu. She pulled back her whip, ready to use to hit Yosuke in the place he seemed to magnetize agony too... His testicles. But when she pulled on the whip, she found that it was stuck with Guts.

"_You shtil go' bushinessh wif' me, bitc'_!" Guts bit down hard on the whip, which he caught with his teeth. His cheeks were torn to pieces, exposing most of the inside of his mouth. His tongue, if you could call it that, threatened to fall back into his throat. Just talking was pure agony, his mouth feeling like it was on fire.

"_**No I don't.**_" Shadow Chie was surprisingly casual, confusing everyone. Even her tower of school girls looked confused and wondered why she wasn't angry that he wasn't dead yet. That was until her cape wrapped itself around Guts, crushing him.

"Guts!" Yosuke knew how horrible the pain could get with that thing. Even with his Persona, which actually lessened the pain he felt, it told him, he felt sheer agony when it caught his arms. Now Guts had it around his whole body with barely any protection.

Guts couldn't call back, speak, or much less scream as the pain became outright blinding. His eyes had spots appearing in his vision as the material squeezed him harder. Blood poured from his nose and mouth as he felt his ribs splinter in his chest, puncturing his lungs, which slowly filled with blood. He smelled the heavy copper as it flooded his nose. He was beginning to black out, everything melting into a blur.

"_**GUTS!**_"

"_Can't... Breathe..._"

"_**Guts, you have to summon me!**_"

"_What... could you... possibly do? You... runt..._"

"_**You don't have much of a choice, now do you!?**_"

"_Fine!_"

"**PUCK**!" Guts called out his Persona's name, using the last of his energy. Just as he was called, Puck flew from Guts' head... And going straight to Yosuke.

Yosuke saw the small pixie fly up to him. From his friend.

"What are you!?" Yosuke could not believe what he was seeing, a small fairy flying in front of him. It was far too small and cute to really be from the muscle-bound mountain of testosterone that he saw him come from.

"We don't have much time, so here's the basics!" Puck raised a finger. "One: I'm your friend's Persona." He raised another. "Two: you need to get yours to start a giant tornado right under the Shadow." He then stuck out his whole hand. "Three... Hi! I'm Puck!"

Yosuke just stared at the fairy, who was expecting a handshake. Jiraiya, on the other hand, did what Puck ordered and spun in the air, creating the cyclone on the Shadow.

"_**Wh-What the...!?**_" Shadow Chie noticed her cape getting pulled by the wind. Never the less it held its grip on Guts, refusing to let go. It then gave a maniacal laugh at their failed plan. "_**Did you guys really think a little wind would stop me!? You guys are such morons! Heehee!**_"

Just then, the small fairy flew up to Shadow Chie, carrying one of the oil lamps that was hanging on the walls. Puck stuck his tongue out at the Shadow, his wings buzzing as he hung on to the lantern.

"_**... What the hell are you?**_" Shadow Chie could just look at the pixie, who was giving her an innocent smile. Shadow Chie held out her hand, which Puck flew into, dropping the lamp. Shadow Chie stroked Puck's hair with a finger. "_**You're kinda cute.**_"

Puck then flew out of her hand and up to her face. He then raised both his middle fingers.

"How about some fire, you latex loving bitch!?"

"_**WHAT!?**_" Shadow Chie looked down to see her cape ablaze, the oil igniting as it was sucked into the tornado Jiraiya created.

The cyclone was consumed with fire, Shadow Chie screeching in agony as she found no safety from the flames, or even the heat. She felt her stone tower cracking, unable to deal with the flames and turning to dust. She fell onto the floor, trying to get onto her feet. She felt the fire from her cape consume her whole body. Searing pain flooded her senses as she tried to wipe away the fire in a panic.

Yosuke and Puck could only watch as the Shadow finally stopped moving, the flames finishing her off.

"S-Sensei!" They saw Teddie run up to Guts, who was finally free from the death grip of the cape. But even though he was free, he was not getting up. He laid on his chest, blood pouring from his mouth and pooling onto the floor.

"Oh god, Guts!" Yosuke ran over to his friend. Guts was pale, most of his blood long gone. Yosuke put a hand to his head and feeling him starting to get cold. He then looked to Puck, who had tears in his eyes. "You're his Persona, do something!"

"R-Right!"

"Well figure it ou-" Yosuke expected an excuse from the pixie, not for it to hover over the large man.

Puck sprinkled a light dust from his wings over Guts, who was already starting to cough and awaken. Puck then flew to Guts' head, sprinkling dust over the cracked skull he sustained.

"Yosuke, can you flip him over?" Puck spun his finger. "He's got more wounds on his front."

Yosuke did just that... and instantly regretted the decision.

A few ribs poked out from Guts' chest, sharp edges that tore through his flesh and exposed the bones to the party. His cheeks were flayed open, showing parts of the muscle and parts of his cheek bones. Those looked shattered too. His uniform was torn open, showing his chest and exposing the scars.

"God... How get this many injuries anyway?" Yosuke saw the multitude of scars across his friend's body. He could not believe how savage looking some were. He looked like he picked a fight with a bear!

"Huh?" Puck looked down to see the scars Yosuke was talking about as he rained dust down on Guts' face. "Oh, don't worry about those!" Puck waved a hand. "Those were there the whole time."

"That does not inspire confidence!" Yosuke saw the ribs sinking back as the dust made contact. The sight made him queasy as he heard the bones snap back into place. He looked off to the side to keep himself from vomiting, just to see the torn muscles and flesh of his mouth. He couldn't keep it down any longer. He ran off to the other end of the room and emptied his stomach all over the floor.

Teddie, on the other hand, was just watching curiously as the pixie did its work.

"So you're really from Sensei?" Teddie asked as the pixie sat on Guts' chest, finished with his duties.

"Sensei?" Puck looked to Guts. "You mean him?"

"Yeah!" Teddie clapped his furry hands together. "Sensei is really good at fighting Shadows!"

Puck put his arms behind him, thinking of a good way to explain his relationship with Guts to the bear.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I'm from him." Puck pointed a finger to his chest. "I'm his Persona, kinda like Yosuke's!"

"You're a Persona?" Teddie scratched his head as the small elf gave a nod.

"Yep! I get to go on cool adventures," Puck tapped his user with a hand. "and I get a moving castle to live in! I'm lucky like that."

Guts groaned as he rose from the floor, knocking Puck off him. He struggled to get to his feet, his body weak from his loss of blood. He put his hand to his head, making sure the glasses did not fall off. After ensuring that they didn't he looked to Yosuke, who was still puking across the way.

"Hanamura!" Guts called out, sounding much calmer than before the battle. "Quit bein' a pansy and get over here."

Yosuke saw the vastly improved condition of his friend and managed to finish his latest bout of nausea. He made his way back over to his Guts, Puck, and Teddie. When he saw the elf fly to Guts' shoulder, who allowed him to rest there, he could not help but chuckle.

"If you laugh, I'm shoving him up your ass." Guts glared at Yosuke.

"O-Okay!" Yosuke tightened himself at the thought. "N-No laughing about Tinkerbell."

"It's Puck!" Puck pouted, still on his user's shoulder.

"_Oooooh._" They all heard Chie groan, rubbing her head as she got to her feet. They also saw her Shadow back in its original form, staring silently at Chie. "What's the matter...? Got nothing to say anymore?"

"Stop it, Chie." Yosuke called out to his friend. "It's all right."

"B-But..." Chie could not allow her friends to see... What was that fairy doing on Guts' shoulder?

"You're more than that thing!" Puck called out, flying up to her face and grabbing her cheeks.

"B-But I..." The shame flooded her soul, making her feel like the worst human being alive.

"He's right..." Yosuke looked to Jiraiya, who was floating next to him. "I went through the same thing." He then looked to Puck, who was now sitting on top of Teddie's head. "So I can understand... I mean... Everyone has a side like this..."

Chie looked to the ground, contemplating what he was saying. She then turned to her Shadow, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah... I kinda get it now." Chie felt the shame wash away. "You are me... A side of me I couldn't forgive... That I tried to ignore..." Chie now had tears in her eyes. "But you still exist. You're a part of me..."

The Shadow gave a nod before it too transformed much like Yosuke's Shadow. A bright light flashed as the Shadow became a Persona. It was a yellow, muscular woman holding a double sided naginata and wearing a white helmet. It had white combat boots as well, and its bright orange eyes glowed through the black visor of its helmet.

"Tomoe..." Chie muttered, the four others approaching her. She looked to her feet as she admitted the truth. "I... Um, it's true that part of me feels that way..." She then looked directly at the closed door in front of them, the one leading to the rest of the castle. "But I wasn't lying about being friends with Yukiko...!"

"Like we didn't know that already." Yosuke shrugged.

Chie then fell to her feet, a wall of exhaustion smashing into her.

"H-Hey! Chie!" Yosuke grabbed his friend's shoulder, worried.

"I'm okay..." Chie's tone did not support that. "Just a little tired..."

"You don't look okay at all..." Yosuke noticed how Chie was struggling to keep her eyes open. "And I bet..." Yosuke remembered the Shadow's transformation. "You can use the same power we have now."

"Huh...?" Chie looked questioningly at Yosuke.

"Hey, what should we do?" Yosuke looked to Guts, who was busy trying to shove Puck down Teddie's throat for zapping his ear with a small 'sting', as Puck put it.

"We don't have any weapons, and we don't need anyone passing out on us." Guts looked to Chie. "We gotta head back for now."

"I agree." Yosuke nodded. "We need to let Chie rest."

"I-I never said I needed a break!" Chie remained defiant. "I... can still keep going..." She tried to get up, but fell back to her knees.

"Don't overdo it!" Teddie walked in front of her, making sure she didn't try it again.

"It's not that we don't think you can." Yosuke wrapped one of Chie's arms around his neck, picking her up. "It's just, we have to save Yukiko-san, no matter what." He then signaled to Guts to help, who got the other arm. "Now that you have the same power, you can fight with us. It'd be much better for us all if you had your strength back." They turned to the open door and began to walk. "That's why we're saying we should go back and regroup."

"But Yukiko's still in here, isn't she!?" Chie turned her head back to see the other door getting further away. "I-I... If those were Yukiko's true feelings... then I have to tell her something." She looked down to the floor, saddened. "I'm not as strong as she thinks! It's because she was with me... Because we were always together, I was able to act that way. If we weren't, I'd..." Tears dripped from her eyes.

"You won't be able to tell her if you're dead." Guts tugged on the arm, getting her attention. "We need to resupply. Then we can raid the castle."

"Yuki-chan's normal." Teddie walked alongside them, his feet making strange squeaks as he went. "Shadows don't attack normal people. They only attack when the fog lifts here."

"So Yukiko-san will be safe until then, right?" Yosuke looked to Teddie, hoping he was right.

"I'm positive." Teddie nodded.

"Alright. Now let's get going!" Puck announced cheerfully, sitting atop Guts' head.

"Wait... You mean Yukiko might be killed by her other self!?"

* * *

Yukiko felt heavy as she tried to get to her feet. Where was she? It didn't look like the inn...

She had the same kimono on that she wore for the interview, it being her personal favorite. She looked around to see that she was in some strange throne room to a castle. A golden, regal throne sat at the top of the flight of stairs that she was laying in front of. The room was decorated in red in all hues and varieties.

"_**Oh good! You've finally awaken!**_"

Yukiko looked to see another her sitting on the throne, clapping her hands excitedly. Only, this one was wearing a large, pink princess dress and had a dark aura around her, her piercing yellow eyes caused Yukiko to shiver.

"_**My dear, I am so glad to see you are okay.**_" The Princess Yukiko got up from her throne and gave a well practiced curtsy before returning to her seat.

"Wh-Where am I...?" Yukiko rubbed her head as she looked around.

"_**You are in your castle, of course!**_" Princess Yukiko placed a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles. "_**Still waiting on your Prince to save you...**_" Her face quickly melted to a scowl."_**Like always...**_"

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Yukiko finally got to her feet, trying to decipher what the princess her was saying.

"_**That inn... That insufferable inn!**_" Princess Yukiko then slammed a tightened fist against the armrest of her throne. "_**You wallow in misery in that place! Yet all you do is sit around and take it! Well no more! Guards!**_"

Yukiko saw her 'knights' approaching, looking like corrupted monstrosities of what fairy-tale knights were supposed to be.

"_**Kill anything that tries to take me back to that horrid place!**_" Princess Yukiko was fully on her feet at that point, rage flooding her heart. "_**No survivors!**_"

The 'knights' then turned and left the throne room, their armor clanking the entire time.

"_**Now that the boys are gone...**_" Princess Yukiko began menacingly, "_**Let's have a little chat, shall we?**_"

* * *

The trio sat at the Junes food-court table at their usual spot. The return to the real world dispersed the two Personas that followed the two men and removed the evidence of their struggle once again. Chie stared at the steak in front of her, not even wanting to eat.

"You know you ain't goin' until you finish that thing." Guts scratched his hair. He then got to his feet and began to walk off. "On second thought, take your time. I got an errand to run." With that, he left Yosuke and Chie alone at the table.

"He has a point, Chie." Yosuke looked to the brown-haired girl. "You need to get your strength back."

"I'm fine!" Chie glared at Yosuke. "Can we just go back already!?"

"Well, no." Yosuke looked off to the side, seemingly ashamed. "Guts left and-"

"Why does he matter whether or not we go!?" Chie slammed her hands on the table, shaking her drink she never touched. "We have Personas! Together, we can save Yukiko for sure!"

"Strength in numbers." Yosuke shrugged. "Besides, Guts was the one who cleared most of the path when we went after you. Guy may not have a tough looking Persona, but he's a psychopath when he's pissed."

"I'm just sayin' that the time it would take for me to 'get my strength back' means that Yukiko has less time herself!" Chie looked back to her steak, now long cold. "I'm ready to go now!"

Yosuke just sighed. He knew that if they waited any longer, Chie would probably throw herself in headfirst again.

"Fine. We'll go."

* * *

"I need a new sword."

Guts was back in the blacksmith's shop, that same heavy air drowning him.

"So you actually tried to use the thing?" The old man laughed a deep, hearty laugh. "What were ya tryin' to hit with it? A fly?"

Guts tried to think of an excuse. How was he going to explain how it broke and not make himself look like a jackass?

"Alright, follow me." The old man gestured to Guts, turning his back to him. "Got somethin' you might like instead."

"A-Alright?" Guts went ahead and followed him, shocked at the strange behavior. He just taunted him for believing an obvious fake was real, why was he going to show him something else?

The two made their way past all the equipment, the heat from the furnace causing them both to sweat. The old man stopped in front of an old wooden door, reaching into his pocket for a key.

"Got a weird vibe from you, kid." The old man switched pockets, unable to find it. "The vibe I only got twice in my whole life." He muttered vulgarities as he patted himself down, trying to feel the key anywhere on him.

"What vibe is that?" Guts only watched as the old man found the key and inserted it into the lock and opened the door.

The room was so dusted that it strangled the two, both coughing and trying to get any form of fresh air in their lungs. The old man then walked into the room, the floor boards creaking and groaning as he stepped towards the light switch.

"Vibe of a true warrior." The old man flipped the switch, revealing a set of armor and a massive, _massive_ sword. "Don't go and bullshit me on how you broke the thing. I saw it in your eyes." The old man walked up and put his hand on Guts' shoulder. "You're fightin' things that ain't human. So you need a weapon to match 'em."

Guts merely looked at the weapon in front of him, placed against the wall. It was much too big to be called a sword. Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was like a heap of raw iron.

"How much you want for it?" Guts looked at the old man, wonder in his eyes.

The old man simply laughed.

"Son, you're gonna need more than the sword."

* * *

Yosuke and Chie were already back at the castle, fighting their way past the Shadows. Tomoe and Jiraiya clearing out droves of the knights as they made their way to the third floor. Chie was running far ahead of Yosuke, trying to make it to the stairs before Yosuke.

"Chie!" Yosuke called from far behind. "You just got your strength back! Don't get too crazy!"

Chie ignored the warning as Tomoe slammed her weapon against the three knights trying to get in her way, their armor caving in like tin as they were sent flying. She kept running as her path was cleared by her Persona. She needed to save Yukiko!

Yosuke had Jiraiya eviscerate the Shadows that got close to him, having their limbs fly off with each shuriken his Persona threw. The black slime flooding the halls as the two fought on. Yosuke felt worried since Guts wasn't with them, only left with a text to follow them into the TV World when they got back.

Yosuke shook the thought off as a Shadow threw its spear towards him, nearly taking his head off. It was quickly split in two with a shuriken.

Chie was further ahead than Yosuke at that point. She was also surrounded by Shadows, all had their weapons at the ready.

"Tomoe!" Chie ordered her Persona. "Use Bufu!"

With that, the Persona summoned football sized chunks of ice, all orbiting around it. Tomoe then hit each one with its naginata, launching them at the Shadows.

Each impact sounded like a cannon. The results supported the comparison as the Shadows that weren't just impaled were torn to shreds, slime and armor bits flying everywhere. The Shadows were quickly dispatched, leaving not one left standing.

* * *

From her throne room, Princess Yukiko watched the events play out from her magic mirror.

"_**This is not how it is supposed to be!**_" Princess Yukiko gave a '_hmmph_' and pouted away from the mirror. "_**You are supposed to kill them all! They wish to take your princess back to that hellhole!**_" She then looked down to the regular Yukiko before giving a cruel smirk. "_**But I saw that there were only two... I wonder who it was that my knights did get...?**_" She knew it was a lie, only sensing the two when they arrived, but the real her didn't.

"N-No!" Yukiko fell on to the ground, the shock taking away any strength she managed to build up to just get off the ground.

"_**My... There's Chie... And Yosuke!**_" The Princess gave a fake gasp, her hand over her mouth. "_**But there's no Guts! Well... That battle with Chie's Shadow **_**did**_** take quite a bit of strength.**_"

"N-No!" That was all Yukiko could say, disbelief overshadowed by sorrow. "That's not true!"

"_**But, my dear, the mirror is only showing the two!**_" She stepped aside, carrying her dress with her before extending a hand to it. "_**Would you like to take a look?**_"

Yukiko merely sobbed, her tears spilling to the carpet.

"_**Honestly, I don't know why you are crying... It was all **_**his**_** fault anyway...**_" The princess looked bitterly to the mirror.

* * *

Chie and Yosuke made it to the fifth floor, running down the hall. Chie was just about to go down the next corner, until a flash of light blinded her.

"What the...!?" Chie saw that she was further down the hall than she remembered. Somehow, she was teleported across the hall. She saw Yosuke just reaching where she went before he too teleported, ending up right next to her.

"What just happened!?" Yosuke just realized the same thing Chie did.

"Looks like this floor might be a bit tricky..." Chie said, trying to decipher the puzzle.

"Well, as long as the teleporting thing is it, I'm sure we'll be fine." Yosuke gave a shrug, optimistic about their chances.

That was until a Shadow riding an armored Shadow in the form of a horse galloped towards them, wielding a massive lance.

"I'm gonna kill you, you idiot!"

* * *

"_**Ah! They just made it to my most trusted knight!**_" Princess Yukiko once again clapped her hands excitedly. "_**He will surely end our little annoyances.**_"

Yukiko just laid on the floor, guilt boiling inside her. It was her fault Guts was dead. She caused this. It was her fault she was too weak to escape on her own. Now the guy who never got a chance to enjoy life in Inaba was gone. Because she was such a coward.

"_**Oh do perk up, dear!**_" The princess her had a smile on her face. "_**You will miss all the fun!**_"

* * *

Guts walked through the front gate and back into the main hall of the castle, his long, black cloak hiding his whole body, a section being used as a hood. He felt a small pain aching from the spot on his neck. He looked up to see that Shadows surrounded him, the previously defeated knights' injuries reversed themselves as they got back to their feet.

"So you guys fix yourselves when you break?" Guts raised a hand and grasped the hilt of his sword. "Then I guess I gotta break you some more..."

The sword smashed into the floor, caving deep into it.

* * *

"_**Oh! He's here! He's finally here!**_" The Princess Yukiko squealed with glee, confusing the real one. "_**My prince is finally here!**_"

"Prince...?" Yukiko could only mutter, exhaustion eating away at her. She looked up to see the Princess her stroll down the steps towards her. She was lifted to her feet by the other her.

"_**Get up! Get up! We must look presentable immediately!**_" Princess Yukiko started dusting off the real her's kimono and straightening her own hair. "_**How does my tiara look?**_" She began fiddling with it.

"It... looks nice...?" Yukiko was shocked that the previously cruel and insulting Princess was acting... like a princess?

"_**You did not sound so sure...**_" The other put her hands to her hips and scowling. "_**But**_ _**I guess being trapped in that inn made you unaware of such formalities...**_" She then turned away from her other self, lifting her nose to the sky.

"What...?"

* * *

Yosuke and Chie made it to the final floor, a large, extravagant door greeting them. They were lucky enough to kill the Shadow on the fifth floor. Chie will forever be thankful to Jiraiya for that.

But at the same time, they will never talk about it again...

Chie gave a heavy kick to the door, bursting it wide open.

"Yukiko!" Chie ran in, stopping when she saw the version of her friend in the princess dress. Yosuke and Teddie followed behind.

"_**My! I misjudged you two!**_" Princess Yukiko scanned the two over. "_**You really are princes!**_" She gave a curtsy at the party. "_**Please forgive the inconvenience. I did not know that you truly were the ones.**_"

"Wait... Two princes?" Chie went red in the face. "Does that include me?"

"It was obvious that she meant me!" Teddie shouted as he ran into the room, gasping for breath.

"_**Chie...**_" The Shadow gave a disturbing chuckle. "_**Yes, she's my prince!**_" Shadow Yukiko had a dreamy expression as she went on. "_**Chie's so kind and brave... Chie's a strong prince!**_" She then sank into a scowl. "_**Or at least **_**she was**_**...**_"

"Was...?" Chie felt heartbroken by the word.

"_**When it comes down to it, Chie's just not good enough!**_" Shadow Yukiko began to throw a tantrum, shouting on and on. "_**She can't protect me! She can't save me!**_" She then looked to Yosuke, her voice getting desperate. "_**But you'll save me, right? You'll take me faraway! To a land where no one knows me!**_"

"I-I'm not ready for a commitment yet!" Yosuke shouted, trying not to blush.

This enraged the princess Shadow.

"_**IT'S ALL THE SAME!**_" Shadow Yukiko started stomping the ground. "_**I can't leave on my own and everyone wants me to stay! They're all 'Wow you're a manager at this age?' Or 'Yukiko, you're amazing! You made a one hundred on that test! That inn won't know what hit it!' None of them see the hell I go through! They only give a damn about the thing right in front of them!**_" She then turned to her real self, a look of hatred on her face. "_**Screw the inn and screw this town!**_"

"S-Stop!" The real her begged the other her to calm down, sitting on her knees from her lack of strength.

"_**'Historical tradition'? 'Pride of the town'? What a bunch of bullshit!**_" The Shadow went on, enjoying the begging of her host. "_**Not to mention how everybody loves the gossip!**_"

"P-Please!" Yukiko had tears in her eyes at that point.

"_**'Did you hear what Yukiko's mother did?' 'Her father just walked right out the inn!' 'He made the whole place watch as he insulted his own wife!' That ring any bells?**_" Shadow Yukiko seemed more upset than her real self, who was crying into her kimono as she sat with knees against her head, hiding her face. "_**I want to go far away~!**_" The Shadow now had an insulting, 'damsel-in-distress' tone. "_**Won't you take me with you~? I can't leave her on my own~! I'm completely useless~. I don't mind, really~! As long as it's not here~, I don't give a damn!**_" Her voice became sharp towards the end.

"That's... not..." Yukiko broke back into her sobs.

"_**But guess what? No one shows up!**_" Shadow Yukiko pointed at her host. "_**So I just sit on my ass hoping one day 'My Prince will come~'!**_" She stomped a foot again. "_**I never asked to be born here! Everything's decided for me! From how I live, to where I die!**_"

"How dare you...?" Yukiko was flooding with hatred. How dare this imposter insult her family this way... insult _her_!

"_**That's how I really feel.**_" Shadow Yukiko sounded confident, giving a cruel smile. "_**Isn't that right... me!?**_"

"N-No..." Yukiko found her courage.

"Stop! Don't say it!" Yosuke tried to put a hand over her mouth, but it was too late.

"No! You're not me!"

Everything went silent, similar to when Chie denied her Shadow. Time seemed to stop as Chie and Yosuke prepared for the worst.

"_**Heeheehee...!**_" The Shadow began to laugh, the aura getting thicker around her. "_**Aaaah! This feels wonderful! It's building... more and more... If this keeps up... I'll... I'll... Ahaha! Ahahahaha!**_" The explosion that erupted threw everyone back.

The Shadow landed onto the ground in a golden chandelier, though it was in a cage on top of the device. Yukiko was taken by a smaller cage floating next to it, forced to do nothing but watch the events take place, unable to do anything to help.

The Shadow was in the form of a giant red bird, the stomach a snow white and in the shape of a heart. The head looked similar to Yukiko, it still having long, black hair. It enjoyed hanging just outside of the cage door, spreading its wide wings.

"Chie!" Yukiko called to her friend, sticking her arm just outside the cage.

"It's all right, Yukiko..." Chie summoned Tomoe next to her. "Just hang in there! We'll save you!"

"_**You can't save me!**_" The Shadow called from the cage. "_**You can't save anyone!**_" It then looked behind them, seeing a silhouette in the dark, only able to make out the whites of his eyes. "_**My prince! My prince!You're finally-!**_"

The Shadow was cut off as a cannonball slammed into the chandelier, causing her to fall onto the ground. The explosion shook the room like an earthquake.

"Wh-What the hell was that!?" Yosuke and Chie looked behind them to see Guts, who was pulling a lever on the side of his metal hand, retracting it back into a fist.

"I ain't your Prince Charming." Guts stepped out from the doorway, everyone seeing his equipment. He was garbed completely in black. The armor he was wearing, plated shoulders along with chest-plate and pants that looked like medieval trousers, a metal plate to protect his groin, his boots that looked like a heavy leather, were all black. He had a bandolier across his chest-plate, holding what appeared to be throwing knives. He had a long, tattered cloak that wafted in the breeze. "I'm the Black Knight."

* * *

_**Next**_ _**Time**_

"_I'm such a coward..."_

_"**My prince! Please, help**__**me!**"__  
_

_"Dear god, his eye!"_

_"**There's something you should know about**** Yu****kiko...**"_

* * *

_A/N_

Yep. That just happened. Guts has the armor, and the sword. Now all he needs is the... Oh... Right...

Anyway! Yukiko has issues... Not much else to say about that.

Also, I started rereading Berserk to get Guts and Puck down. I started to worry that I might have been botching them pretty bad. I wasn't actually. Sure, I had to cut down on Guts being a _total_ psycho, but I'm sure you guys see why. And that doesn't mean that he may turn into one in the future. And to those wondering why this one seems shorter than the others, it's because I decided to try out a whole thing where more than two things happen at once... bad idea. I hated it. I also cut a lot of 'filler' that the dungeon puts you through. I tried to include it in the Shadow's tantrum (she's a _princess_, they usually act like spoiled brats in stuff I read), and I hope you get why.

Finally! I included a word-for-word description from Berserk. If you find it, I'll send you a video of me rubbing my nipples while singing 'I'm Too Sexy'... Okay, no I won't. Instead, I will let you give me an idea for the filler chapters that are coming! Yep, because Guts is going to have down time soon.

Alright, this A/N has stalled you long enough. You won't be able to escape from that bomb under your chair now. If you're still reading, this has been Plague. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a mirror.

"_I'm too sexy for my shirt..._"


	7. Family Secrets: What I Did At Junes Was

"_**I was not talking to you, ruffian!**_" Shadow Yukiko looked to the ceiling, where another figure was hidden in darkness. "_**My prince! My prince! Help me!**_"

The figure leaped to the floor, landing perfectly on its feet.

It looked to have been a slender man, his face hidden behind a gray, frowning mask. He wore an dark tunic, embezzled with royal looking awards and decorations, his pants being a simple black. On his head was a bright, golden crown. His hair was gray and cut in a bowl-shape. Guts could see through the eyes of the mask, showing a pair of cloudy, silver eyes. The man then unsheathed his fencing sword, throwing the empty holder off to the side.

"Alright, pretty boy..." Guts cracked his neck. "Let's dance!"

* * *

Back in the real world, Dojima had just arrived at Junes. Apparently someone called in about 'a psychotic cosplayer with a giant sword going straight to the Electronics department'. Now, he was taking the testimony of a frazzled housewife.

"So you're saying the sword was _how big_, again?" Dojima rubbed his eyes, frustration leaking out into his voice.

"I-It was over six feet long!" The housewife clutched her chest as she remembered the horrid experience. She was young and pretty, her hair in a small bun at the back of her head. "He walked right past my little boy... I was scared to death, officer!"

"Did you see his face?" Adachi piped in, holding two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. Dojima roughly grabbed one from the meek detective's hand.

"N-No..." The woman looked down to her apron. "He had his face covered..."

"Covered with what?" Dojima took a long drink from his coffee.

"It was a black cloak!" The housewife clutched her chest once again. "It was tattered and looked like he never took care of it. He had his face covered, but we could all see his weapons..."

This caught the two's attention.

"What weapons did he have?" Dojima rubbed his stubble. "Besides the sword."

"He had a bunch of knives hanging from his armor!" The woman tried to remember what it was he had, closing her eyes in concentration. "And a knife on the side of his pants."

"So the guy likes knives...?" Adachi took a drink from his own coffee, spitting it out when Dojima smacked the back of his head for his idiocy.

"Anything else, ma'am?" Dojima scanned the woman's face for dishonesty, trying to look for the classic 'tells'.

"Well..." The woman hesitated, not sure whether or not to continue.

"Well what?" Adachi looked curiously to the woman.

"There was the crossbow..."

* * *

Back in the TV World, Guts was firing bolts from the crossbow Daidara had given him, capable of shooting dozens at once. It looked like a smaller version of a regular crossbow with a wooden box on the top, clearly meant to hold the bolts.

However, the man he was facing was fast. Being able to dodge every one of them as he sprinted to Guts, his sword out and ready to skewer his opponent's head. The sound of their swords meeting rang loudly as Guts raised his own sword to block the strike. With his sword sliding off the side of the much larger one, Guts grabbed his enemy's arm.

"Come here, you little fu-!"

* * *

"So he had a sword, a bunch of knives... and a crossbow?" Dojima felt ridiculous for saying it out loud. It sounded like something you'd only see in a bad TV show...

A guy decked out in medieval armor walking right into a grocery store where tons of people could see. Dojima felt silly just thinking it.

There was no way any of what this woman said could make any sense. Yet, the security cameras they were told captured him and dozens of other witnesses they needed to interview supported it. Someone walked into the store, armed to the teeth. Whoever the guy was, he was either crazy or just really stupid.

"Oh! There was something else!" The woman jumped to her feet. "He had a fake hand!"

* * *

Guts delivered a skull shattering punch to his opponent with his meta hand, sending him to his feet. The so called 'prince' tried to get to his feet before Guts sent a bone splitting kick to his ribs.

"You ain't goin' anywhere, buddy." Guts grabbed the prince by his tunic, bringing him face to face with the victor of the fight. "You really all she's got?" Guts smirked, spitting on the man's mask. "You weren't shit."

"_**You do not fight with honor...**_" The voice of the man felt cold, like an ice cube was being rubbed across Guts' spine.

"Nah." Guts gave a shrug to the prince. "Honor's for someone that gives a shit, or dead people. Usually both."

"_**Then neither shall I.**_"

With that, the man pulled a dagger hidden in the sleeve of his regal tunic. He sunk the blade deep into Guts' leg, tearing through the trousers and hitting the bone within seconds. Blood spilled from his thigh, the knife tearing through the flesh like rice paper.

Guts roared in anger as he closed his large hand on the head of the prince, slamming him into the floor at full force and repeating.

* * *

"Wait... Did you say a 'fake hand'?" Dojima knew exactly what she said... He just needed to hear it again.

"Y-Yes sir!" The woman shook with fright. "I-It looked like it was made of iron. It was stuck in a fist, with a small lever on the side."

"Lever?" Dojima never noticed any sort of extra feature on his nephew's hand. It just looked like an iron fist. Was there something he just didn't see?

"Y-Yes!" The woman nodded violently, her whole body shaking. "It was on his left hand."

"Hey, Dojima," Adachi said to his partner, "that sounds kinda like-"

"Adachi. Car. _Now_." Dojima snapped his finger as he ordered the young man, who fearfully followed the order.

"What?" The woman's eyes went wide, panic settling in. "Th-That's that serial killer, isn't it!? He walked right past us! Oh my god, oh my god..." The woman kept repeating the last statement as she went fully into a state of terror.

"Ma'am," Dojima called out to her as he grabbed her shoulders, "you need to _stay calm_. There is nothing to worry about."

"Of course there is! That monster walked right past my son!" The woman looked to a small boy who was talking to another police officer about what he saw. He seemed much more excited than her mother.

"I can assure you, that man wouldn't harm a fly..."

* * *

"WHY!?"

_**Smash!**_

"WON'T!?"

_**Smash!**_

"YOU!?"

_**Smash!**_

"DIE ALREADY!?"

_**CRACK!**_

The sound of the prince's skull giving was like music to Guts' ears. He continued to slam him into the ground, ooze beginning to fall from the back of the the prince's head. It was getting thicker with every heavy drop onto the floor, which was starting to show heavy cracks and damage. The slime was flowing when Guts made one final attack on the floor, with the prince as his weapon.

Guts tore the mask off the prince's face, revealing a surprisingly calm faced teenager. If his brains weren't all over the floor, Guts would have said that he was someone the ladies would've liked. Guess that explains the prince thing, now that he thought about it.

"_**My prince! Oh my sweet prince!**_" Shadow Yukiko wailed, hiding within her cage. "**_How dare you kill my prince, you barbarian!_**"

"Shoulda told your boyfriend when to start fighting cheap." Guts threw the mask at the Shadow, everyone seeing the aftermath he left of the, now deceased, royal. Guts then grit his teeth as he pulled the knife out of his leg, blood flowing freely. "He still tried to be 'honorable' and didn't go for my throat or my heart. What a dumbass..."

* * *

"So that man wouldn't hurt anyone?" The woman was unconvinced of the detective's attempt to calm her by saying the man was not a threat. "He looked like he was ready to go on a rampage!"

"Yes. I know," Dojima gave a tired sigh as he spoke, "but you have to believe me. He's not the kind of guy that tries any stupid stunt like this without a reason." Dojima remembered back to the issue with the weapons that Guts and his friend got into. Did he try to get more? Why? What were the two doing with them anyway?

"It is very clear what his reason was! He was trying to kill everyone!"

Dojima looked to the gathering crowd in front of the entrance to the store. The voice that called out from the mass of people sounded bitter, almost hateful.

"Whoever said that," Dojima yelled at the crowd, all illusions of professionalism gone, "come out here now!"

A young teenage boy walked out, dressed in his school uniform even though it was a Sunday, though Dojima saw a long blue shirt underneath of it. He had slicked-back light-brown hair, which looked darker at a distance. The boy had an angry scowl on his face as Dojima approached. Dojima's seemed much more threatening though. Dojima then recognized the boy and let his face drop.

"Kid, I get it," Dojima rubbed his stubble, "your sister died right when he showed up to town. But I can almost one hundred percent assure you that Guts had nothing to do with it." This kid was almost obsessive with his hatred, which Dojima had learned when he marched right into the police station and demanded that Guts be taken into custody. Seemed that he was aiming all his frustration at Dojima's nephew.

"He went missing for hours! No one could find him!" The boy gripped the police tape holding him back. "Then my sister went missing that same day! How can you not see that kind of connection?"

Dojima heard mutterings of agreement coming from the crowd. He was starting to get them on his side.

"I see it too, believe me." Dojima pulled out a cigarette and put it into his mouth. "I just know that it's a dumb one to follow."

"What are you talking about!?" The boy's rage went to higher levels as he continued. "It all matches up perfectly. He shows up, the announcer's found dead the next day! He goes missing, Sak—_the next victim _is killed the exact same way!" The student had to choke back tears when he almost said her name. It hurt like hell every time he tried to.

"Except that he was with me the whole day before Mayumi Yamano died." Dojima was sick of the bullshit the town seemed to enjoy spewing. He just wanted a few minutes of peace. "And unless he can be in two places at once, or recreate killings perfectly with little information about how the victim even died, he's not the guy you want!"

* * *

Guts walked up to Chie and Yosuke, both with horrified looks on their faces and their jaws on the ground.

"You guys ever feel like someone's talking about you?" Guts was disturbingly calm when he asked the question.

"Dude... How did you sneak that stuff into Junes...?" Yosuke was mentally praying that Guts was smart about-

"I didn't."

OH GODDAMN IT!

"You mean you just waltzed right in with all that stuff!?" Chie smacked her forehead with both her hands, burying her face into them.

"Yeah..." Guts had a realization, "Now that I think about it, that might be a problem later."

"YOU THINK!?" Chie and Yosuke both shouted. Chie glowered at Guts as Yosuke panicked, freaking out about how he could possibly explain everything to his dad, who happened to be his _boss_.

"Listen," Guts raised a hand, "We'll figure everything out later. Right now we have to deal with that thing." Guts pointed out the Shadow, who seemed to have been waiting patiently for them to finish.

It had just finished inspecting its talon, seeing that it was still sharp and undamaged. It raised its head as it heard the three bozos go quiet.

"_**Are you three finished now?**_"

* * *

"Ren! Gou! Kurosawa! Adachi! Get over here!" Dojima needed to keep the crowd from killing each other. He had no choice to enact the ancient tactic of subtle crowd manipulation.

"Yes, boss!" Adachi was shaking along with the rest of the officers Dojima had called.

"We're going with Plan G." Dojima lit the cigarette he had in his mouth. "Get the volleyball."

"Awww..." Adachi hated Plan G. "Are we really doing that plan...?"

"It's either that, or we'll be dealing with a full scale riot on our hands." Dojima looked to the three officers behind his partner. "You three! Get your shirts off."

The masterful plan that was Plan G was a very articulate and tactical piece of strategy, guaranteed to get even the most unruly crowd on their side...

They were going to reenact the volleyball scene from Top Gun.

* * *

Guts felt a chill run down his spine. Something was very wrong, and he could sense it.

"Guts, you okay?" Chie saw that the large man had a face full of horror, one that should have been on a veteran, stained by war.

"I just got the mental image of my uncle without a shirt..." Guts tightened his grip on his sword. He really needed to kill something...

"W-Wait, what!?" Yosuke choked back a laugh, his hand over his mouth.

"_**That is quite... disturbing.**_" The Shadow shared a laugh with Yosuke, despite her words. Even the real Yukiko, still trapped in her cage next to her Shadow, was holding back giggles. Even Jiraiya and Tomoe seemed to laugh silently.

"OH FUCK ALL OF YOU!" Guts roared in rage, running to the cage, readying his sword for a heavy swing. The heat was getting worse as he got closer, going from unnoticeable to pure hellfire. Sweat poured from his face as he swung at the cage, the sword's momentum too powerful to stop.

"_**AH!**_" Shadow Yukiko's cage turned into a pendulum as the force pushed her up to the ceiling, tapping it before swinging down and smashing hard into the wall. "**_How dare you!?_**"

The cage door bent, allowing for it to be easily torn off by the enraged Shadow. Shadow Yukiko spread her wings as she was freed from her cage, small flickers of flames igniting between each feather. She flapped her wings, raising several feet into the sky with every one. She rose to a good altitude before gazing down at the morsels before her. They planned to take her back to that prison! They deserved to _burn_ for their crimes...

"Oh shit!" Yosuke saw the flames in the Shadow's wings getting stronger, engulfing the feathers completely. "I think she's pissed!"

"_**Burn, you worthless peasants!**_"

The fire was splashed across the throne room, engulfing it in flames.

Chie and Yosuke managed to have Tomoe use her powers and covered them with a wall of ice. Guts, on the other hand, was too far ahead and was caught in the flames.

"Guts!" Chie called out to him, trying to see his cloak in the sea of fire. But nowhere she looked had the dark colors of his armor. She only saw the blindingly bright flames.

"Ch-Chie," Yosuke tapped her shoulder, his face had a bleak expression, "look!" He pointed to the Shadow, his hand shaking.

She looked to see Shadow Yukiko holding something in her bird-like claw. It was Guts, the Shadow's claw gripping his head with a talon directly above his right eye.

"_**I've always hated those black eyes of yours...**_" The Shadow pressed the talon against his eye. "**_Why don't we try and get rid of them, hmm? I'll start with this one!_**" The razor sharp point inched closer to Guts' pupil, encompassing his whole vision.

He felt it sink into his eye, slowly pushing and tearing the thing to pieces. It was pure torture. Guts could only feel pure agony as fluid slid across his cheek, his vision for that half going completely black. He smelled a thick copper-like scent as the talon dug into his eye socket, trying to claw its way to his brain. Blood poured from the wound, painting the talon and Guts' face a deep, dark red.

"_**Now look there, we're already done with that one!**_" Shadow Yukiko giggled as she tried to slide the claw out of Guts' head. "**_We'll just finish up and pop that other one out in no time!_**"

Guts only answered with a horrid roar, sounding more monstrous than human. His other eye seemed to sink into a deep white, his iris and pupil consumed and leaving nothing else but emptiness. His face was contorted in a crazed glower, pure rage and hatred filling his mind.

"**You know what you need to do.**" The menacing voice in his head was the only thing that he could hear, his heart pounding and deafening everything else out. "**Come on! It'll be fun...**"

Guts felt something in him snap. Pure adrenaline numbed the pain he was feeling. He couldn't feel the talon stuck in his eye socket. He couldn't feel the flames licking his body as they inched closer. He couldn't feel the hellish pain from the lack of his eye... He only felt really angry.

"_**What is this? What are you doing?**_" Shadow Yukiko saw her bird-foot beginning to raise, Guts picking himself off the ground. She pressed harder against him, only able to slow his progress. "**_S-Stop! Stop that this instant!_**" Her words went unheeded as Guts grabbed her foot with both hands, slowly inching the claw out of his socket.

Shadow Yukiko flapped her wings once more, raising herself to the sky once again.

"_**If you will not sit still, I shall be forced to punish you!**_" Shadow Yukiko used her other talon to grab Guts' legs, both fitting into her massive bird-claw. "**_It is your fault this is happening! You brought this on yourself!_**"

Even with their friend in extreme danger, they could not help but notice how... _rehearsed_ the Shadow sounded. As though it was merely repeating something like a parrot.

"Tomoe!" Chie summoned her Persona, it appearing next to her. "Get that thing off of Guts!"

Tomoe nodded and flew to the Shadow, her weapon at the ready. Without needed an order, Tomoe spawned shards of ice and shot them to Shadow Yukiko, each impact smashing against her oversized middle.

"_**Stop that!**_" Another slammed into the Shadow. "**_You will stop this instant!_**" Yet another made impact.

Shadow Yukiko flapped her wings faster, fire brewing yet again on her feathers.

"_Oh god... If she sets that thing off with Guts right there!_" Yosuke looked to the ground, a taut expression on his face.

"Jiraiya!" Yosuke called upon his Persona.

"_**That is it!**_" Shadow Yukiko gave one large flap, the fire consuming her whole body. "**_You shall all _burn_!_**"

Something zipped past the Shadow, slashing both of her claws.

"_**What!?**_" Shadow Yukiko looked to see Jiraiya floating in front of her, holding Guts in its arms.

Jiraiya placed Guts next to Yosuke and Chie in the ice wall. Their friend was long since passed out, looking almost dead with blood running down the right side of his face from where his eye used to be.

"Alright!" Chie pumped a fist in the air, just happy her friend was safe. "Now, Tomoe! Finish her off!"

The Persona gave a silent nod, raising its weapon to the face of the Shadow of its user's best friend.

"_**You have to rely on someone else to do your fighting!?**_" The Shadow spat bitterly. "**_You are such a coward!_**"

No one gave a response as the Persona gave a quick swing, removing the head of the Shadow.

Its body melted into slime as it fell onto the ground, vanishing as it touched the floor. The head landed near the stairs to the throne, it too melting. The flames extinguished with the death of its creator, puffing away and leaving a thick cloud of smoke that hung to the ceiling. Yukiko's cage dropped to the floor, but she remained inside, sobbing. The trio could see something moving from out of the muck that splattered the ground.

The Princess Yukiko climbed her way out of the filth, her dress completely covered in the fluid of the Shadow. She had tears in her eyes as she climbed to her feet, her dress in tatters and covered in the foul smelling ooze. Her tiara was missing, emphasizing the mess of her hair, now filled with the slime. She looked to the students, sobbing as she made her way to them. She looked like she was holding a glass slipper in her hands.

"_**Please... Save me...**_" She inched closer and closer, her balance getting worse with every step. "**_I'm so alone... My prince left me..._**"

"Oh my god, WILL YOU CUT THIS SHIT OUT!?" Guts jumped to his feet and marched his way to the cage containing Yukiko. He tore the door open and pulled the girl out by the collar of her kimono, a cruel and uncaring look on his face as he brought her to her Shadow. Guts threw Yukiko to the floor in front of her other self.

"Hey!" Chie ran to her friend. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" She raised a fist to Guts' face. "We came in here to save here, not abuse her!"

"_I'm such a damned coward..._" Yukiko began to sob, curling into herself as her tears fell to the floor.

"From what it sounded like," Guts roughly grabbed her hand, "your friend was gonna ditch you the first chance she got. She was gonna abandon you. Leave you behind." A dark look crossed his face as he began to squeeze her arm. "She was gonna let you suffer all over again. All alone."

"Okay Guts," Yosuke had a pleading look, "we get it!"

"She didn't give a damn about us. About you." He continued to squeeze. "All she wanted was for her goddamned fairy tale to come true. For the gallant knight to save her and take her far far away."

"We get it!" Yosuke was now wild-eyed. Chie herself was trying to pry her wrist from his iron grip.

"Well there is no 'knight-in-shining-armor'. No 'fairy tale ending'. No 'escape from her prison'. This is the real world." A dark sneer grew on his face. "And in the real world, shitty things happen to people that don't deserve it. That's life."

"G-Guts!" Chie could feel her bones giving in, slowly bending and ready to snap.

"So if she wants to escape so bad, I say, 'Why treat her like a victim?'" Guts gazed down at Yukiko, no compassion or sympathy showing. "She's just as much to blame as the asshole who threw her in here."

"G-Guts! You're hurting me!" Chie was practically begging at that point.

His grip loosened. Freeing the girl's arm. He turned and began towards the door, his cloak flowing like water behind him.

"I'm waiting by the entrance. Don't take all day."

With that, he was gone. Only Chie, Yosuke, and Yukiko left in the room.

"H-He's right..." The Persona users heard Yukiko begin, a shame-filled look on her face. "I'm such a selfish coward..." She brought her knees to her chin, tears fresh in her eyes.

"Yukiko, no!" Chie rubbed her wrist as she bent down. "You are not selfish or a coward!" She scowled as she looked to the door. "Guts is just an asshole." He was more than that just then. That was outright monstrous! How could he say something like that?

"It's true..." Yukiko let her tears flow. "I was going to leave you here all alone, Chie..." She buried her head in her knees. "I'm no better than-..."

"Yukiko, there's something I have to tell you!" Chie put her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Yukiko... I'm sorry." Chie looked to the ground, avoiding Yukiko's eyes. "I was so self-centered that... I never understood what you were going through... I'm you friend and I still... I'm so sorry..." Chie wiped away her tears. Even Yosuke and Teddie were trying to hold their expressionless faces, tears slipping out more than once. "I was always jealous of you, Yukiko. You had everything that I didn't... That jealously was like a wall, and I was so lonely...!" She placed a hand over her heart and Yukiko's. "I wanted you to need me... But it was me who needed you..."

"Chie..." Yukiko seemed shocked to hear what she was saying.

"I can't do anything right on my own... I've caused so much trouble for Yosuke and the others." Chie bit her lip, the incident with her Shadow coming back to her. "If you weren't by my side, I... I wouldn't know what to do..."

"Chie..." Yukiko rose to her feet, finding her strength. She knew then that she was wrong.

"I never saw the real you either..." Yukiko looked to her Shadow, still sobbing and holding the slipper. "I was too busy trying to find an easy way out."

"_**Please... I wan-**_"

"'I want to run away'..." Yukiko finished for the other her. "'I want someone to save me'... You're right, those feelings are part of me, too. I understand now... You're me."

The Shadow ceased her sobbing. Instead, a smile grew on her face as she dropped the slipper to the floor, shattering it on impact. She gave her true self a well practiced curtsy before a transforming into a Persona.

It was a woman wearing a bird mask and dressed in pink, wings connecting her forearms with her back. Her piercing yellow eyes gave Yukiko a sense of wonder.

"Konohana Sakuya..." Yukiko muttered in disbelief. She dropped to her knees, all the energy sucked from her body.

"Yukiko!" Chie grabbed her friend, lifting her to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Yosuke asked, using a leader's tone.

"Yes," Yukiko said slowly, "I'm just a little tired..." She looked to Chie, then Yosuke, then to... that bear she saw once when they showed up. "You all came to rescue me...?"

"Of course!" Yosuke had a cocky grin as he smacked Chie and Teddie on their backs.

"Thank you..." Yukiko tried to bow in her friend's arms, almost sending them both to the floor.

"Don't mention it." Chie readjusted her grip on Yukiko. "I'm just so glad you're safe..."

"So~," Teddie said cheerfully, throwing himself into the conversation, "who threw you in here?"

"Huh...? Who are you?" Yukiko asked, confused that the bear could talk. "Rather... What are you?"

"I'm Teddie!" Teddie waved a furry hand. "So, who threw you in?"

"I don't know..." Yukiko looked to the ground, ashamed at her lack of knowledge on her kidnapper. "I think... someone called my name..." She put one of her slender hands to her head, feeling a headache coming on. "But my memory's a blur. I can't remember who it was... I'm sorry, um... Teddie."

"No new clues..." Teddie looked to the ground sadly.

"Not necessarily." Yosuke stretched his arms out above his head. "Now we know for sure that someone threw Yukiko-san in here."

"Hrmm..." Teddie brooded on the matter. "Then it really isn't you guys..."

"Of course not!" Yosuke repeated blandly, feeling like a broken record. "Wait... You still suspected us!?"

"N-No no no no no!" Teddie's eyes went wide. "Absolutely not!"

"You little...!" Yosuke just groaned, too exhausted to be angry at the bear. "You're one lying sack of honey..."

"Anyways," Chie broke Yosuke out of his bitter thoughts about their guide, "let's hurry back home. Yukiko looks exhausted..." She turned to the bear. "Thanks again, Teddie!"

The three made their way to the exit, Teddie standing where he was.

"Huh? Wait, you're leaving me here?" Teddie asked, confused.

"Leaving you?" Yosuke furrowed his brow. "What're you talking about? You live here."

"Well... yeah, but..." Teddie scuffed the floor with a paw, looking down at the floor.

"I'm sorry, Teddie." Yukiko walked up to the depressed looking bear. "I promise to come again..." Yukiko pet the top of his head, scratching at his ears. "So be a good boy and wait here until then."

"R-Raaaawr!" Teddie growled affectionately at Yukiko, or at least his best attempt at a growl. He then went red in the face as he put on a coy voice. "My, it's getting crowded here. Why don't you and I go somewhere else...?" He saw Yukiko's bemused face. "C'mon... Pretty please?"

"Gah... You're giving me the creeps! That's it, you're stuck here for the rest of your life!"

* * *

Outside of the castle, Guts waited for the rest of the group to arrive. He stood at the gate, brooding to himself over his behavior. It all felt like instinct, but he couldn't help but kick his own ass for treating his... _friends_ like that.

…

The silence in his head was getting unsettling at that point. Where was Puck? Why wasn't he giving him shit for not apologizing or treating Yukiko like an inconvenience? Now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard him all day.

"_Puck? Puck? Puck, where the fuck are you?_"

He was met with nothing but silence.

"Puck!?" Guts called out loud, trying to summon him. "Hey, Puck! Get your ass out here!"

Oddly, he never appeared.

"_Damn it... Where is that little pest?_"

Guts scanned the fog around him, his glasses lost during the battle. Of course, now he'd have to make do with one half of the pair. The fog was thick and heavy, blocking his vision considerably. Though, he could make out something small somewhere on the ground.

"Damn it, Puck!" Guts approached the figure. "I get that you're pissed, but don't ignore me li-"

Guts could only stop as he stared at the... _thing_ on the ground.

It looked like a deformed fetus, barely developed. Its arms and lower half were nothing more than wiggling tentacles, slapping against the ground. Its spine and ribs were showing, barely any fat on the thing to hide them. Its head was deformed, one large eye staring at Guts while it puckered its lips.

"Wh-What the fuck are you!?" Guts was paralyzed by the monster. He couldn't even grab any of his weapons to kill it. It just kept staring at him, slapping its 'limbs' against the ground, like it was trying to move.

"What the hell do you want!?" Guts knew what it was. He felt it on the mark on his neck. It was a Shadow. It wanted to kill him.

"_**Daddy...!**_"

The creature spoke... Guts felt the words go straight to his brain. The voice it had was shrill and loud, sounding like an enraged banshee.

"Get away from me!" Guts raised his boot, ready to stomp it to death. "You hear me!? I'll fucking _kill_ you!"

"Yo!"

Guts turned to see Yosuke, along with Chie and Yukiko, coming out of the front gates of the castle. Yukiko was being carried by Chie, both looked less than pleased to see him. Yosuke was much the same, a frown on his face as he walked up to Guts.

"Dude, you alright? You look like you saw a ghost..." Yosuke noticed the pale look Guts had.

"I'm... fine. Perfectly fine." Guts had a haunted look on his face. Whatever it was about that creature, it shook him to his core.

"Alright..." Yosuke shrugged, still worried about his friend. "Oh! You dropped these." Yosuke pulled out the dark gray glasses Guts was given by Teddie. "They fell off when Yukiko's Shadow grabbed you. You still need these... Though one half is broken."

Guts took the glasses and inspected them, seeing that one of the lenses was cracked beyond repair. Luckily, it was the right half.

"If that isn't symbolic..."

"But yeah," Yosuke began awkwardly, "We'll get that pair fixed up for ya in no time! Can't use one-sided glasses, you know?"

"I don't think that it matters." Guts put the glasses on his face, clearing away the fog.

"What do ya mean?" Yosuke knew he was in denial. A talon that deep in the eye? There was no way anything that could be salvaged enough to heal was left.

"It's gone," Guts stated coldly, "_completely_ gone. Felt the pop and everything."

* * *

The four teens hopped out of the TV World and back into the Electronics department. They all saw the area was devoid of shoppers, an eerie silence overtaking the whole department.

"Man," Yosuke shook, chills shooting up his spine, "this is creepy..."

"Where is everyone...?" Yukiko asked, turning her head, trying to find any sign of life.

"Mister subtly here decided to waltz into Junes while he was armed to the teeth!" Chie scowled at Guts, still bitter about his unpleasantness towards her friend earlier.

"Right... We still need an excuse for all that..." Guts looked to the police officers that were coming towards them. "Now would be a good time to think of one."

* * *

Dojima, Adachi, and the other officers were trying their best to calm the crowd and keep a riot from ensuing.

Plan G was a miserable failure. Adachi had never seen the movie, yet he was supposed to be the one playing Tom Cruise! He ended up botching the whole thing and enraging the crowd more.

"People, please!" Dojima was two seconds away from pulling out his weapon and firing it into the sky, at least it would make them scared instead of angry!

"Sir! We have the suspects," an officer ran outside and saluted Dojima. "they were found in the Electronics department."

"Suspects?" Dojima knew Guts was involved, who else could it possibly be? "Bring them out here."

"H-Hey! This is police brutality, you hear me!" Yosuke shouted as one of the officers drug him outside.

"You?" Dojima recognized the kid from earlier in the day. He was the one who got Guts in trouble with weapons the first time... Should've known he was involved...

"Whoa!" Yosuke threw up his hands, seeing the bloodthirsty crowd staring directly at him. "W-We can explain!"

"Alright, tough guy," Another officer leading Guts said condescendingly, "keep it movin'."

Dojima just stared at Guts, who just stared back.

He looked completely different with the outfit on. The armor made him look like some barbarian who was supposed to be swinging a battleaxe into some unfortunate soul's skull. The cloak wrapped around him made him look like a phantom, haunting the very ground he stood on. The sword hilt peeking out from behind him complimented it all too well. It looked as if it _belonged_ there, that he would be incomplete without it. But what shocked Dojima the most was the fact that Guts was keeping one of his eyes closed, like he had injured it.

"What the hell did you two do...?" Dojima let his venom seep into his voice. Twice in one day!? What the hell were they thinking!?

Then, Chie and Yukiko came out of the store, the latter being kept on her feet by her friend and another police officer.

Guts merely pointed to the girl wearing the kimono.

"We saved her ass."

It was such a simple statement, quite vulgar too, but it shocked everyone around them.

"C'mon. Let's get her home." Guts waved for the others to follow him, everyone else left stunned.

* * *

"Yukiko...? Are you all right? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?" Chie fussed over her friend like a worried mother. This was made more awkward considering Yukiko's _real _mother was with them in her room.

It was an extremely simple room. Not a poster to be found or even a CD player. It was a small room at the inn modified to be a live-in room for Yukiko, everyone expecting her to put her own decorations up and modify it to her interests. However, it stayed just as neat and empty as the day they gave it to her. Yukiko laid on her futon, resting. Guts was by the window, staring out of it and seeing the town from a distance. Yosuke was standing next to Chie, who was on her knees making quadruple sure her friend was perfectly fine.

"No..." Yukiko gave a small smile to her friend. "I'm just a little tired..."

"Do you remember anything?" Yosuke asked, his voice calm and collected.

"I'm sorry, but... I don't remember anything..." Yukiko sadly admitted, feeling ashamed.

"Well, no worries!" Chie beamed a smile. "You're safe, and that's more than enough."

They all nodded, agreeing with the statement.

"But there's no mistake that Yukiko-san was... um..." Yosuke felt awkward just saying the word, "...Attacked... the same way as the last two victims." Yosuke rubbed his arm, still feeling awkward. "And I think the one we saw on the Midnight Channel wasn't the real Yukiko-san, but her Shadow." A realization dawned on him. "Maybe the things Yukiko-san was suppressing in this world form in the TV...?"

Chie snapped her fingers, "You know, Teddie was saying something like that..."

Yosuke slapped his forehead, "Awww, it's no use. I'm just going round and round in circles." He stood thinking about all that happened in the last few days. "What kinda person could be doing this?"

"Doesn't matter." Guts turned away from the window. "He's doing it, so we'll get him."

"You're right," Yosuke yawned deeply, stretching his arms as he did so, "Oh man! For now, let's call it a day. We all need some rest after all this..."

Chie seemed hesitant to leave her friend alone, but she knew that it would be better to let her rest. She reluctantly got up and went to her friend's door, leaving the room.

Yosuke gestured to Guts, seeing that Yukiko fell asleep. The two left the room and were standing out in the halls. Yosuke was a stark contrast from how he was when they were in front of the other two. He looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Dude... that stuff with the police...?" Yosuke's eyes went wide, his pupils shaking.

"What about it?" Guts was dead calm, on the other hand.

"Is that gonna bite us in the ass?"

"Oh, without a doubt," Guts gave a nod, wearing a dark smirk on his face, "we committed quite a bit of felonies today."

"Awww man..." Yosuke buried his face in his hands. "We are so _screwed_..."

"All right, Hanamura," Guts put his hand on the brown-haired male's shoulder, "you got a game plan, right? You got an idea on how to lead your men?"

"Wha- LEAD!?" The word cause Yosuke's heart to jump into his throat. "Why am I the leader!?"

"Because I'm not exactly Mister Popular with the group..." Guts had a sullen look, his eyes drifting to Yukiko's door. "Besides, Yukiko seems a bit too timid for commanding, and Chie... Well... She's Chie."

"So I'm the last resort...?" Yosuke asked, deadpanned.

"Pretty much." Guts gave a mock salute to Yosuke. "So, leader, what do you want me to do?"

The fact that Guts had called him his leader made Yosuke crack a proud smile. He could do it. He could take charge! He had to think for a bit on what to do for his first official command.

"_There's always the chance that the killer might want to finish what he started._"

"I want you to stay with Yukiko for the night." Yosuke was surprisingly stern with his command, showing that it wasn't a request. "We need someone who can keep her safe, and well... you certainly look the part of the 'scary bodyguard'."

"Got it." Guts gave a simple nod. "I'll stay with her for the night."

"_It's not like I can go home right now anyways..."_

* * *

Yukiko awoke with a splitting headache. It felt like someone was using her head for a hammer. She rose from her futon, feeling a presence in her pitch dark room.

It was far into the night, around one or two in the morning. Yet she saw a silhouette of a large man sitting in the corner of her room, watching her sleep. His one eye glowing brightly in the dark.

"G-Guts?" Yukiko asked, unsure of why he was there.

"Makin' sure no one grabs you in the dark." Guts' cloak covered everything but his head, the rest consumed by the black fabric that seemed to stay together through anything.

"O-Oh! O-Okay..." Yukiko lowered herself back onto her futon, trying to go back to sleep. She rolled to her other side, her back facing Guts. Finding that that didn't work either, she flipped to the other side.

She was now face to face with Guts, who was sitting on his knees in front of her futon.

"You know you look cute when you're sleep...?" Guts lowered his head closer.

"G-Guts...?"

* * *

Guts heard giggling from outside of Yukiko's room. Followed by...

"_OH DEAR SWEET CHRIST, IS THAT GIRL-!?_"

"Excuse me."

"YES!" Guts shouted out, his face a dark red.

The woman in front of him was taken back by the man... until she heard the same noises. She wore a light-blue kimono with a red sash wrapped around the middle. She had short-black hair with bright blue eyes. She looked quite young, around her early thirties.

"C-Can we speak somewhere else?" The woman was just as embarrassed, if not more. "Please...?"

The two made their way further down the hall and away from the noises as best they could. Eventually, they found an acceptable distance that balanced the stomach churning noises coming from Yukiko's room, and Guts' duty to watch over her... He swore he heard his name. He really did.

"N-Now that that is out of the way," the woman offered a hand, "I am Noriko Amagi."

"Guts," he gave the woman a firm handshake.

"Guts...?" Noriko gestured for him to continue.

"Just Guts."

"All right..." Noriko sighed.

"It must have been pretty awkward," Guts scratched his neck with his metal hand, which he saw Noriko staring at, "hearing your sister do that stuff."

"Oh," Noriko's face went bright red, "I'm not her sister. Yukiko is my daughter."

"Oh..." Now Guts just felt like throwing up.

"I am sorry for this inconvenience, but I must ask you something," Noriko stared at Guts' only remaining eye, his left, "about your family."

"Go ahead," Guts shrugged, "not much to tell."

"What is your father's last name?" Noriko furrowed her brow.

"Narukami." Guts hated that last name. It felt so alien to him.

"No, your _birth_ father," Noriko seemed to have been getting impatient, frowning as she tapped her foot.

"I dunno. Never met the guy. He died right when I was born."

"Oh... I'm sorry I-"

"Don't give me your pity," Guts raised his right hand, "I ain't a charity case. All I know is that he died in some wreck with his wife. They found me in what was left, splattered with blood, guts, and afterbirth."

"Wait," a look of realization hit her, "when was this? How old are you?"

"Sixteen, do the math."

Noriko grabbed Guts' arm and pulled herself to him, looking deep into his eye.

"My god..." Noriko put a hand to her mouth. She turned away from him, her back facing him.

"What? He piss you off or somethin'?"

Noriko turned back to face Guts.

"There's something you need to know about Yukiko..."

* * *

_Next Time:_

"_She's WHAT!?_

_"You must forge bonds with others!"_

_"Wow! What's your name!?"  
_

_"**My name's Puck! Nice to meet ya, Nanako!**"_

* * *

_A/N_

Okay. You guys have three guesses on what the twist is, if my terrible attempts at foreshadowing haven't already spoiled it.

Also! Seems that emotional, and slight physical, abuse is the way to get the ladies hot and bothered... I feel like I should reevaluate my life...

And it seems that Guts simply said "Fuck you!" to the police and took credit for saving Yukiko... There's no way that will go wrong...

Not only that, but he killed the 'prince'. Which if you somehow deciphered from my cryptic attempts at description, sounds a little familiar.

And his id won a small battle. He was overpowered by Shadow Yukiko, but it definitely won.

And the Top Gun thing... I had to. My buddy Levi (yes, that is his name. Stop thinking I'm some crazy AoT fanboy... STOP IT!) loves 80s stuff and made me watch it with him when I said how homoerotic the movie was. IT REALLY IS. It makes even Shadow Kanji look like Rush Limbaugh. Check it out. BUT DON'T PLAY THE DRINKING GAME! You WILL lose your liver.

And the Demon Fetus shows up! Mainly because I plan to FUCK UP Guts' life in this. It will require that slimy ball of meat.

...And that Next Time sounds a little weird, doesn't it?


	8. Family Secrets: You're not alone

Nanako was alone in the Dojima residence, the other occupants busy with their own work. The little girl sat at her usual spot at the table, watching television. Her day was filled with idle chores she took care of to pass the time, such as hanging the laundry to dry or doing the dishes. Now she had nothing to do, unable to think of anything else that needed to be finished around the house. She sighed as she looked to the door, hoping that her father or one of her friends would open it. However, it stayed closed.

"_Dad's busy as always. Guts is out with his friends._" Nanako repeated the thought in her head, staring at the door. She twiddled her little fingers in her hands as she patiently waited for something, not even knowing what it was. The sound of the television in the background became a dull hum as she focused less and less on the program that played on it.

"_I'm all alone again..._" Nanako sighed again as the fact popped in her head. She knew it was true. Dojima was going to be busy with work and her cousin was probably going to spend all day out of the house. She was happy when Guts spent time with her that morning, the two of them watching television together before the large man went out later that afternoon. Despite his appearance, which intimidated her at first, he seemed to have been a good person. She felt calm around him, similar to how she felt around her father when he was home. Though there was that hint of fear that still hung in her mind when he was around.

"_WHHHHAAAA_!"

Nanako heard a loud bang come from the kitchen, something falling onto the floor.

Nanako jumped to her feet, ready to rush out the glass door she pressed herself against. She was certain that she heard a yell before the bang had occurred. Someone was _in her home_.

"Ooooooh..." the voice groaned out, sounding like a boy around her age.

"Wh-Who's there?" Nanako asked, shaking in fear.

"Uh... No one!" the boy squeaked out. He sounded more afraid than Nanako.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" Nanako was sounding more confident than before, but was still far from comfortable.

"W-Well, you see," the voice began, "I was with Guts earlier-"

"Wait, you were with Guts?" Nanako felt calmer, her fear overshadowed by curiosity, "Are you one of his friends?"

"K-Kinda...?" the voice said, unsure whether he said the right answer or not.

"Wow!" Nanako clapped her hands in excitement. The voice was friends with her cousin, maybe he was nice!

"Yeah... Huzzah..." The voice did not seem to share the excitement.

"But," Nanako began questioningly, "why are you here then? Shouldn't you be out there with him?"

"..."

"Hello?" The silence worried the little girl. "Are you there?"

"Can you keep a secret...?" the voice asked reluctantly.

"Sure!" Nanako smiled, she was being trusted with something super secret! Her smile dropped as her face sank in thought, "As long as it's not a bad one..."

"N-No! It's nothing bad!" the voice sounded like he was panicking, "It's just that Guts wouldn't be happy if he found out I talked to you. He's a grown up, so he doesn't think I can be trusted around you."

"Why not...?" Nanako asked, confused, "If you're his friend then doesn't that mean you two trust each other around your other friends?"

"It's just that... I'm not _technically_ supposed to be here..."

"Did he not ask Dad if you could come over...?" That shouldn't have mattered, Dojima was rarely home enough to notice company was over. And if he was there, he was always welcoming to them.

"No... I mean _here_."

"... You mean the kitchen...?" Did Guts not want his friend in the kitchen alone?

"... Screw it."

Something buzzed out of the kitchen and straight to Nanako's face. It was a small pix-_**ELF**_ with silver hair and emerald green eyes. He hovered with his small wings buzzing in the air in front of the little girl's face. He seemed to glow bright with a white aura around him.

"Wow!" Nanako found the sight of the small creature amazing. "What's your name?"

"I'm Puck!" he extended his hand to the girl's face, expecting a handshake, "Nice to meet ya, Nanako!"

"How do you know my name...?" Nanako asked, returning the handshake.

"Guts told me," Puck said simply, shrugging his shoulders, "he talks a lot about you."

"Really?" Nanako had a bright smile on her face as she asked the question.

"Of course!" Puck patted the girl on the head with his tiny hand, "He may not look it, but the guy's a huge softie."

The thoughts screaming in Puck's mind, however, were of a different nature.

"_DEAR SWEET GOD, MAY HE NEVER FIND OUT THAT I SAID THAT!_"

* * *

Guts was standing in front of Noriko Amagi, who had tears in her eyes. A wall of anguish and buried thoughts broke, spilling out all at once in her head.

"Well," Guts said impatiently, "what do I need to know?"

"You see," Noriko began, trying to keep her composure, "before the two of you were born, I had met your father. Your _real_ father."

"You what?" Guts could not believe what he just heard. He never heard of the inn until a few days ago, then he learns that his family had a history with the place?

"He stayed here during a business trip. He was meeting with some executives about something I can't recall," Noriko wiped away a few stray tears, "but we ended up running into each other." Noriko wore a sad smile on her face, drunk with the memory. "I know it sounds silly, but it was 'love at first sight'. I was very young then, around a year or two older than Yukiko is now."

Guts felt creeped out by that fact. He didn't want to know that his dead dad liked 'em young.

"Of course, we spent the entirety of his trip together, never wasting a minute away from each other. But he had to leave eventually, and we fully accepted that. He was so crushed that he outright promised me that he would come back and we would be happy together."

"Guessin' that that's not what happened...?" Guts asked coldly, merely processing everything he was hearing. He knew next to nothing about his real parents. His adoptive family never talked about them when ever they were home and he could ask.

"No," Noriko gave a sad sigh, "that's not at all what happened... You see, my family set up an arranged marriage for me without my consent. It was to the son of a rich entrepreneur that promised to invest quite a bit of money into the inn if we married." Noriko had a bitter frown as she remembered those awful years with her husband. "Neither of us shared any kind of connection to each other. Quite frankly, he was a spoiled brat and enjoyed playing for the _other team_, if you understand me." Noriko shook her head, keeping herself from falling into her memories. "Regardless, we were engaged. We played along for as long as we could, the two of us only pretending to care for each other when it came to keeping up appearances. But the night before the wedding..." Noriko gazed deep into Guts' face, a smile growing on her face. "He came back..."

"You mean my old man came back to you out of nowhere?" Guts was starting to get skeptical of the story. He never was a fan of fairy tales, which it started to sound like more and more.

"Yes," Noriko placed her hands over chest, almost reflexively, "just to be there for me, he came all the way back to Japan. He was married as well at that point.,to a cruel and cold politician's daughter in Europe. He disguised his true intentions as an 'urgent meeting' and got there as soon he could when he heard the news from the friends he made here."

Guts knew about his grandfather. The bastard apparently refused to take him in when he was born, saying that people would think he only did it to boost his ratings. He was lucky that his adoptive parents were kind enough to welcome him with open arms before he got thrown into an orphanage. Still, he wasn't gonna go looking for him. The way he saw it, guy was dead too.

"We... spent the night together," Noriko's face went bright red as she tried to censor what she meant, "just the one night. He was already gone the next day, not a trace of him to be found. I was half convinced it was all a dream then..." Noriko stared off into space, lost in her own world. "Then I began to get sick in the mornings."

"Wait. So you mean that...?" Guts knew exactly what it meant. He just couldn't stop himself from asking though.

"My husband didn't think anything of it," Noriko continued on, "we had already _consummated_ our marriage, so he thought the baby was his. But when she was born, he began to put the puzzle together. He had green eyes and brown hair, our baby had dark black hair and eyes." Noriko looked back into Guts' eye, peering into his soul. "I told him that the hair was mine, eyes as well. I said that some of our family had black eyes, though I had no idea if that was even true. He believed it, thankfully. We were actually peaceful for quite awhile. He seemed to generally like Yukiko, and she practically worshiped the ground he walked on..." Noriko's face melted into a sour scowl. "Then out of nowhere, he just started to treat her like... like..."

"Shit." Guts helped her.

"Yes... shit." Noriko felt embarrassed to say the word. "I think he started to catch on over time. She acted nothing like him, didn't share a single quality with him, and the most glaring was that he heard about my 'little crush on a foreign businessman' before we were married. He started to act very cold towards Yukiko and I, getting progressively more aggressive. He started drilling me with questions about your father, asking if I had seen him recently or when the last time I saw him was. I always told the truth, that I had not seen him in years and doubted that he was ever going to show up again. The final straw came when him and Yukiko manned the front desk, greeting any guest that signed in." Noriko grit her teeth in rage, the memory burning in her very soul. "That was when the _Narukami_ family booked a room. A man, his wife, and their adopted son."

"Wait, I don't remember-"

"He took one look at you," Noriko interrupted Guts, fresh tears in her eyes which were beginning to turn red, "and he just lost it. He ran straight to me and demanded answers. '_How can a boy look exactly like our daughter if you say that she's ours!?_' He just kept repeating that over and over. It was pretty weak evidence, to be honest. I kept telling him how there are so many combinations of people out there and that coincidences like that happen all the time," Noriko's tone began to seethe with rage, "but he was paranoid at that point. He was looking for any ammunition against me. I knew nothing I said could have convinced him." Noriko was practically shaking in anger, the worst memory of the whole experience flooding her mind. "But that _bastard_ decided that I needed to be 'punished' for making him look like an idiot and tricking him into raising someone else's child. He called an 'emergency gathering' in the dinner room of the inn, requiring for everyone to arrive, including guests. Once they were all there, he just started to insult me. Calling me 'a whore' and 'a filthy bitch', among other words I don't wish to repeat."

Guts could only imagine the scene. A bubbling hatred was beginning to build in his chest. She may have screwed up, but the asshole didn't need to air his laundry in public. The fight was theirs, and theirs alone.

"The worst part," Noriko looked to the ground, tears dripping from her eyes, "was that Yukiko was there..."

"_What_!?" Guts could not help but hiss out

"She ran, as fast as her legs could carry her," Noriko's voice began to break, "she ran as far as she could, away from the insults against me. We made sure not to fight in front of Yukiko, but he didn't seem to care anymore. He let out all of his venom as everyone just watched. He finally gave one loud declaration of his leaving and stormed out, all of us hearing his stomps. When I heard the door slam shut, I felt so relieved that I almost fell over. I wasn't upset at him insulting me, as I never gave a damn what the man thought of me. I was upset that he had to make such a spectacle of it. Why didn't he just call me those things and leave without anyone else knowing? Why did he need to make such a show?"

"But he was right..." Guts responded coldly.

"He was," Noriko admitted, "but that doesn't make it any less evil."

"So Yukiko...?"

"Is your half-sister..."

The two stood in silence, both reeling from the sudden revelation. Guts could only begin to try to process what he had just learned. He had a sister his whole life and never knew about her until then? Hell, if he never showed up to Inaba, he could have went his whole life not even knowing she existed! Just the idea made his head feel like it was in a whirlpool.

"Why'd you tell me all of this...?" Guts asked, still stunned by it all.

"Because..." Noriko hesitated, "I have a favor to ask of you..."

"What favor?" Guts let his apprehension show. For all he knew, she was lying to him and was just gonna use him as her tool.

Noriko merely put her hands on the sides of his face, looking deep into his eye.

"_Protect her_."

It was such a simple statement. Yet it held an unimaginable power.

"I know she was kidnapped by that killer the news loves to talk so much about," Noriko explained, "and when she went missing... I was so afraid..." Noriko dropped her hands, looking at the ground. She could no longer keep eye contact with the man in front of her. "But then you and your friends brought her home. Just like that." Noriko found the courage to look at the black-haired male once again. "I know she will want to help you, she's very kind like that. So please _please_ look after her. Keep her safe." Noriko's gaze shifted down the hall, looking at the door to her daughter's room. "If you won't do it for me, do it because you are _family_."

"Family..." The word felt weird on his tongue. He had said it before, but now it seemed new to him. Guts was silent for what seemed like an eternity, thinking about the request. He was expected to play 'guardian angel' to a sibling he never even knew existed until just a few minutes ago? It didn't matter if they were family or not, there was no way that this woman could just sweet talk him into making sure her kid didn't end up dead! He had others to protect. He _could_ _not _give special treatment to anyone and expect the group to stay stable. But even with all that...

"I'll keep her safe..."

He still agreed.

* * *

Guts found himself sitting in the corner of Yukiko's room, just staring at her in the dark. He made sure that nothing tried to grab her in the dark, still in his armor and carrying his weapons from the time in the TV World. His cloak covered everything except his head, which was drowned out in the dark.

He melted the hours trying to perfect something the old man Daidara told him earlier that day. The roll of bandages getting lighter as he wrapped his hands in the material, leaving his fingers open. The blacksmith told him that wrapping his hand in bandages could help him hold his sword, which seemed strange to him. Regardless, he tried it.

"_Hmph. This... actually feels comfortable._" It was more than that. It almost felt _natural_ to him, like he should have been using them the entire time.

"_That old man knows everything..._"

Sleep was beginning to tug at Guts' eye, his lid slowly drop as the exhaustion built up from the day's events finally hit him. He was drifting off, catching himself starting to sleep more than once. He needed to stay awake. If anyone came for Yukiko in the night, he needed to be ready for them. But despite this, he still felt himself giving up the struggle, allowing him to finally slip into a slumber.

"_Just... a few... minutes..._"

A noise woke him from his slumber.

It sounded odd, but it was definitely getting closer.

Guts rose to his feet, grasping his sword as he made his way to the door, the room illuminated by the moonlight coming through the window. He looked to see Yukiko, still sleeping peacefully on her futon. The noise wasn't even causing her to stir.

"_Don't worry, kid. I'll keep ya from getting grabbed again._"

Something stirred in Guts as he looked at her tranquil form. It was a dark, empty feeling that tugged at his chest. As he looked upon the only true 'family' he had left in the world, he realized how alone he felt.

Yukiko had friends, was extremely popular with everyone at their school, she was pretty much the poster child of Inaba.

Guts... he was anything but. He never had friends. Everyone his age was afraid of him at his old schools. All the adults expected him to be trouble, never trusting him with anything. He was always seen as a good-for-nothing thug for a multitude of reasons.

The noise tore him out of his train of thought, now right outside the room.

Guts took out his large knife that he kept on his pants, holstered in its pouch. He touched the doorknob, it now feeling frozen. In fact, the air around him was colder. He saw steam come from his nose as he breathed.

He pulled the door open to reveal a monstrous figure.

It looked like an armored skeleton, riding an armored horse. Both looked menacing, their red eyes glowing in the darkness of the hallway. The skeleton looked towards Guts, peering into his very soul. It seemed to carry itself with a form of respect for the awestruck youth staring at it.

"**So, Struggler... We finally meet.**" The skeleton spoke, its voice powerful enough to keep its audience silent. "**I have come with a warning of future events.**" The Skeleton Knight stabled himself as its horse reared, lifting its legs in the air as it gave a powerful neigh that shook the halls. "**If you allow the beast within you to take control, there will be a storm of death, a sea of blood the likes of which you cannot possibly imagine. Your companions are your only weapon against the darkness that seeks to consume you. You must forge the weapon! Do not forget this again...**" The Knight kicked its horse, signaling for them to leave. "**But do not despair. Continue to struggle. For every second of resistance is the true sword of those who fight for the truth.**"

With that, the Skeleton Knight vanished. No trace of its existence to be found.

Guts finally found his voice again, never even knowing he lost it. Who was that? _What_ was that? And what the hell was it talking about?

That same wave of fatigue struck him once again. Guts decided to just sleep on it for then.

"_With half the bullshit I've been dealing with, a cryptic skeleton on a horse is the sanest thing I've seen lately..._"

* * *

"_N-No!"_

_Guts' hand was pressed tight against the woman's stomach, trying to keep pressure on her wound._

"_Don't die!" Guts called out to her, not even registering the agony he himself felt. Blood poured from his own wounds, but he never noticed. He just stared at the bleeding woman, hoping that her empty eyes would fill with life._

_It was no use. She was long dead._

"_Don't leave me here alone..." Guts wrapped his arms around her, holding the woman tight against him. He couldn't even find tears to shed. He just held her close, trying to warm her cold body._

"_Casca... Please..."_

* * *

"Guts?"

Yukiko's voice tore him out of his restless slumber. He looked up to see the girl just awakening in her futon, sunlight filling the room.

"What are you doing here?" Yukiko asked, surprised to see her peer asleep in her room.

"Yosuke asked me to keep an eye on you for the night," Guts explained, "I thought it'd be a good idea to stay in here so no surprises come up."

"O-Oh... Okay..." Yukiko went red in the face. She was never alone with a boy in her room before. Her nerves threatened to steal her voice from her.

An awkward silence befell the two. Yukiko trying not to stare at the muscles on his arms, and Guts trying to think of what to say to his newly discovered sister. Yukiko saw how the cloaked figure got to his feet, his armor barely making a sound as he rose.

"I should go," Guts began, walking to the door, "school's today."

"Do you think you should go?" Yukiko asked, almost sounding desperate. "I mean... with everything that happened yesterday-"

"Still gonna," Guts interrupted, "I gotta fix up my reputation. Don't need half the town trying to kill me in my sleep."

"R-Right..." Yukiko seemed to lose her nerve. He did have a point.

"We'll be back." Guts was trying to reassure her. "Can't just leave you alone after all that shit yesterday."

"Oh... that's good to hear." Yukiko felt happier at the promise. She wanted to help them after all they did for her.

"I wouldn't be so excited." Guts looked directly at her, a wolfish grin on his face.

Guts then left the room, leaving the teenage girl alone, nothing but silence as her company. She laid back down on her futon, unable to summon the energy to pick herself up. She stared at the ceiling, thinking about what happened with her Shadow.

"_I can't believe that I actually felt that way..._"

Yet, she knew it was true. She really did feel trapped. Like she was too weak to break out of the cage fate put her in. But she wasn't as weak as she thought, she realized. Fate didn't need to run her life. She could make her own destiny, no matter what the people around her wished.

"_My life isn't on rails. I can control it._"

With the thought, she felt more at ease. Her mind felt clearer as she let her eyelids slip closed once again, falling back asleep.

* * *

"Okay," an aging voice began, "so you're telling me that the whole fiasco yesterday was because you talked one of your friends into helping you come up with a mascot for the store?"

Yosuke was face to face with his father, a middle-aged man with graying hairs beginning to root in his thick, brown hair. Yosuke felt like he was on trial, his eyes wide and shaking in anxiety.

"Y-Yeah!" Yosuke exclaimed nervously. "I-I was trying to come up with something that would be a good face for Junes..."

His father merely raised an eyebrow.

"I kinda forgot to announce that he was coming..."

The eyebrow stayed raised.

"And that the weapons were fake...!"

"Why did he need them?" his father asked, almost sounding rhetorical. "You know that Junes is a family store, right?"

"Y-Yeah, I screwed up on that one." Yosuke rubbed his neck. "I tried thinking of something that would attract an older audience. Guess it worked a bit too well..."

"What's the name?"

The question blindsided Yosuke, "Wh-What?"

"The mascot," his father said casually, "what's his name?"

"O-Oh! He's the... Uh..." Yosuke went through a million combinations of words, trying to think of something that sounded good. No matter what he thought of, nothing sounded like anything that wouldn't make him look like a jackass.

"'The uh...?"

"Th-The Black Swordsman!" Yosuke smiled proudly, putting his hands on his hips and giving a heroic pose. "The Black Swordsman of Savings!"

The eyebrow rose once more.

"H-He cuts prices apart with his Sword of Deals!" Yosuke promised himself to kick his own ass later... There was no way that his father would believe any of-

"You can be so dimwitted sometimes, you know that?" His father just sighed. "If you ever want to help out with our marketing, _please_ talk to me before you try anything."

Holy Jesus Christ monkey balls, he bought it.

"And don't talk your friends into being your models."

"R-Right!" Yosuke just felt relieved that it worked. "Won't happen again."

"Alright. Now, shouldn't you be getting to school?"

* * *

Guts arrived at the Dojima residence, needing to change out of his armor and into his school uniform. Thankfully, he was still early so he managed to avoid scaring anyone on the way back. If he hurried he could make it to school on time and not risk the wrath of 'old fuck-tooth'. He went up the stairs and into his room, seeing it was just as clean as when he left it. The sight calmed him somewhat.

He changed out of his armor, leaving it in his dresser with the cloak neatly folded. He put his sword underneath the futon he had not slept in the previous night, the wide point of the blade just poking out from underneath. It wasn't exactly discreet, but it was better than just putting it against the wall.

Guts walked back downstairs, his supplies ready for the day ahead of him. It felt like such a culture shock, going from battling the demonic manifestations of suppressed thoughts of people to getting ready for school. Something about it made him give a dark chuckle.

"_Okay, this is getting ridiculous. PUCK!?_" The silence in Guts' head was getting outright annoying at that point, him being too adjusted to the presence of the little pixie in his head. He just seemed to know that Puck wasn't in his head, a feeling of solitude being his indicator as he felt the heavy atmosphere sink in.

"_Screw it! Go ahead and have your little tantrum. When you grow up, start talking._" Guts suspected the elf was upset at how he treated Yukiko the day before when they rescued her. He went along and left the Dojima home, heading to school for the day.

* * *

The classroom was dead silent as Guts walked in, students all staring directly at him as he took his seat. He recognized some of them from the crowd in front of Junes the day before, now looking frightful instead of angry. He paid them no attention as he sat in thought, something eating away at the back of his mind that he just then got the chance to ponder over.

"_What was up with that dream last night? Did the skeleton guy cause it?_"

Guts was unable to remember much about the events of his dream. Only a few details manage to stick out in his memory. A woman, the fact that he was injured, and that he was upset over something. Those were the only three definite things he could recall at that point. Everything else was all a blur as he forced his mind to think, to try to recall anything that could help him pin down what it was even about.

He was left with nothing but mental fog as nothing came to him.

"_Damn it. I gotta figure out what that was all about last night._"

The dream kept him from getting a good night of sleep. He felt like every inch of him was beaten and broken, struggling to stay on his feet. He fought to just keep his eye open. He couldn't afford to sleep there. He'd get drilled for it by Morooka. And at the state he was in, he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep his hands off the teacher's throat if that happened.

"Dude!" Yosuke called out, walking into the classroom and looking like he was on cloud nine. His dopey grin wide on his face as he walked over to his friend, who was the exact opposite. "I got that problem all worked out!"

"You mean the one with the cops?" Guts asked, unsure if Yosuke truly meant the serious issue that would risk them going to jail if they did not figure out an explanation.

"Yep," Yosuke began excitedly, "all it took was a small hit to my pride and a bit of dumb luck..." Yosuke dropped his smile, a look of worry spread across his face. "There is something I should mention though..."

"Somethin' go wrong...?" Guts asked, mentally preparing himself for whatever bad news was coming.

"No no!" Yosuke shot his hands up, panic filling him. "Nothing wrong... exactly."

"Just get to the point." Guts was very clear with his tone, showing his lack of patience.

"Well... I got you a job?" Yosuke laughed meekly as he tried to play it off as a positive thing.

Guts just stared at him, no expression showing.

* * *

Chie felt refreshed and energized as she entered her classroom. She was amazed that she managed to recover so much from the events of the day before. By the time she got to her home she was just about ready to collapse, yet she awoke the next day feeling ready to take on anything. She looked to Guts, who was calmly sitting in his seat, and Yosuke, who was on the ground in the fetal position while holding his privates. She wasn't sure, but she could have sworn that she heard crying from him.

"Yo!" She called out as she walked up to them, Yosuke still writhing on the ground. "What's wrong with him?"

"He got some punishment for being a dumbass." Guts didn't even turn to look at her, just staring off into space. He was wrapped up in his thoughts once again. The girlish whimpering of Yosuke brought the dream back up in Guts' mind, this time there to stay.

"_I think one popped_..." Yosuke choked out. Why did he have to use the _metal_ one...?

"Yeesh." Chie was thankful that she wasn't on the receiving end. She noticed how much calmer Guts was compared to the day before. "Actually, you seem a lot better than yesterday."

Guts turned to Chie, the statement breaking him free from his mind, "What do ya mean?"

"'All she wanted was for her goddamned fairy tale to come true,'" Chie repeated bitterly, "'No escape from her prison'. 'Shitty things happen to people that don't deserve it'." Chie crossed her arms. "Compared to that, Yosuke got off pretty easy."

"Yeah..." Guts looked to his desk. "Sorry about that. Don't really know what came over me..."

He knew he was lying. He knew _exactly_ what came over him. The knight made sure that he didn't forget its warning, which sent a chill down his spine as he remembered its words.

"Guess you just got pretty worked up," Chie said casually, looking at the, now permanently, closed lid of his right eye. She was shocked at how they all just took it in stride, not one of them really freaked out that their friend was now half-blind. The oddest part to her was how she felt that he was better with the injury. It made him seem more... _complete_.

"More than likely." Guts put his hand over the lid of his right eye. He knew she meant when he lost it during the fight with Yukiko's Shadow.

"Good news, though," Chie began excitedly, "Yukiko is gonna be able to come back to school in a few days!"

"_That's great_..." Yosuke whimpered out.

"Are you still on the floor?"

* * *

Nanako sat in her classroom, intently listening to the teacher give the class a lecture about math. She was happy that she had her new friend Puck sitting on her head, hiding himself in her hair. He made her promise that _no one_ would see him unless he said it was okay. She was good at keeping promises, so she agreed.

The teacher continued with her lesson, explaining the basics of multiplication.

"_**Ugh...**_"

Puck was less enthusiastic.

"_**God, I'm bored... Maybe I should go back to Guts.**_"

Even with the thought dangling in his mind, he stayed with Nanako through out her school day. The lectures went from math, to social studies, to science. All three boring the elf to tears. He didn't care about how any number times one is the same number, how could he use it? He spends most of his time living in the head of a guy that fought Shadows! He wasn't even technically supposed to be out and about in the real world.

As the teacher spoke, Puck mockingly imitated her in his head.

"_**And the turtle couldn't stop because he built up too much speed blah blah blah...**_"

He was seriously considering going back to Guts. At least with him he could have a little bit of fun annoying him.

"All right, everyone," the teacher spoke, her voice calm and nurturing, "you are all dismissed for lunchtime."

"_**Lunchtime? What the hell is that?**_"

"Yay!" Nanako was excited by the announcement.

"_**Is that worthy of a 'yay'?**_"

Despite his hesitation, Nanako rose from her desk and walked with her classmates to the cafeteria. She ran a hand through her hair to be sure that Puck was still hanging on. The two walked through the halls of the elementary school, making their way to the destination only Nanako knew.

"_**Is the day over? That wasn't too bad.**_"

The dull roar of excited children answered for him. All sat at tables spread throughout the large room, eating with their friends. The room was filled to the brim with the young minds, all taking advantage of the time they were given.

"_**Me and my big mouth...**_"

* * *

Guts himself wasn't having the best day either.

First off, when he walked down the halls everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and stared at him. It was unsettling to say the least.

Second, some _dead man_ decided that it would be funny to leave a note just saying '_murderer_' in his shoe locker. He was getting really tired of his classmates' bullshit.

Third, when he changed into his PE uniform, someone had stolen his metal hand and hid it somewhere the thief would end up after he found him. It took hours for that thing to dry...

Thankfully, that seemed to be it for the day in regards to his headaches. He was finally on his way back to his home, ready to just relax for the next few hours. A part of him considered going to the TV World and blowing off some steam, but he knew that could only end badly. He didn't want to be caught with his armor on... Ah shit.

"_I forgot... Damn it, Yosuke! Why didn't you ask me to help you with the excuse!?_"

Guts was now a 'temporary employee of Junes until a suitable replacement could be found'. Meaning that he had to wear his armor around the store and act like a jackass because Yosuke didn't _think_ before spouting out a bullshit lie. Why were they even willing to hire him? When he walked out in front of the crowd the day before, they were scared shitless! He doubted that he would be a good mascot to a family store. Of course, the 'temporary' thing kinda shows how his mindset is shared. Hanamura's dad must've pulled some big favors for them.

Thankfully, he only had to worry about all that the week after. For then, he could finally rest his head a few days. He earned it with saving Yukiko and almost dying _twice _in the same day, the loss of his eye not even beginning to be paid off either.

For the rest of the week, he could finally deal with an acceptable level of sanity.

* * *

Guts and Nanako sat at their spots at the table, both watching the television drone on about something they weren't even listening too. Nanako seemed to hum to herself as she replayed a familiar jingle in her mind.

"_I swear, that kid would fight just to look at that place..._"

"_**Kinda get that vibe too.**_"

"_What the—PUCK!?_"

"_**The one and only!**_"

"_Where the hell were you, you pipsqueak?_"

"_**I had things to do. I've got a life too, you know!**_"

"_What life? You live in my head. I'm pretty much forced to be with you 24/7._"

"He's home!" Nanako announced cheerfully, seeing her father enter. Her attention was then drawn to the younger man wearing a suit staying behind Dojima. "Um... hello..."

"Hi there," the detective greeted warmly.

"We got off work at the same time," Dojima explained, "so I'm giving him a ride back to his place. I thought we might as well swing by." His eyes shot to Guts, who was sitting calmly at the table. He, thankfully, got a call from the manager at Junes. The whole situation seemed to have been a massive misunderstanding that resulted from one of his nephew's friends being a raging dumbass.

"Nice to meet ya," the young detective said to Nanako, "I'm Adachi, the guy who's been your dad's slave since spring."

"I can still work you harder, you know," Dojima threatened, glaring at Adachi.

"Haha, good one, Sir!" Adachi laughed meekly under the gaze of his boss. He looked to side, trying to avoid the gaze, and noticed the muscular man sitting at the table with the little girl. "Oh, I almost forgot! You're friends with Yukiko Amagi, right?" Adachi had pride swelling in his voice, "They found her safe and sound! Tell all your friends at school!"

Dojima and Guts merely sat in silence.

"Were you at Junes yesterday?" Guts asked, his tone suggesting that he was talking to an idiot.

"Ha! I was, but I had to duck out," Adachi said sheepishly, "I was at the top of everyone's hit list when Plan G went south..." Adachi rubbed his neck. "But man, it's a relief for us on the force. But this doesn't mean the case is closed, though." Adachi put a finger to his chin. "We were just questioning Ms. Amagi, but she says she doesn't remember anything that happened while she was missing. And we can't figure out her whereabouts during the missing period, either. It's like she really disappeared." Adachi was caught in a stream of rambling thoughts. "It's all pretty fishy, if you ask me... Like there's something else going on..."

He was broken out of his thoughts by a smack to the back of his head. Expertly given by Dojima.

"Stop blabbering, dumbass!" Dojima grit his teeth as he scolded his partner.

"S-Sorry..." Adachi lowered his head as he gave a weak apology.

"Ignore him," Dojima turned to Guts, "He's just spouting some wild fantasy."

"I'll forget it, then," Guts stated simply.

"Yeah, don't give it a second thought," Dojima turned to Adachi, "Sheesh, he's a real pain sometimes..."

"I'm hungry," Nanako complained, everyone now looking towards her.

"Hey, you're right," Dojima chuckled, "My stomach's growling too."

"Hahaha, so you do have a softer side around Nanako-chan, Sir," Adachi teased his boss.

"Shut up and siddown... And wash those hands first!" Dojima looked at his own hands. "Hm, I should do the same..."

"_This is gonna be an interesting dinner..._"

He was just happy that everything was normal for a change.

* * *

_Sometime later_

Guts was on top of the school rooftop, trying his best to comfort a hysterical Ai Ebihara. Who decided to turn the tables in a way that made Guts really regret not letting her throw herself off the edge.

"Do it, or I'll kill myself!" Ebihara threatened her determined face becoming a cute smile.

"Damn it, you stupid bitch!" Guts hissed. He was now in a hell he never thought imaginable.

He was in a relationship...

* * *

_Next Time:_

"_I'll only forgive you if you say you love me..."_

_"You're not welcome here!"  
_

_"Welcome to the basketball team!"  
_

_"**I'm gonna kill you... **_**slowly**_**...**"_

* * *

_A/N_

This is Plague... I'm sorry, but you have the wrong-

No.. No, I don't have your car keys..

You have the wrong numbe-!

YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR FUCKING CAR KEYS!

I'm sorry about that. Anyways, for a chapter with all sorts of important shit, it seems pretty short. That's because the whole next chapter is too perfect to try to fit into this one as well. This is what I mean by Guts having downtime. Each 'filler' moment is going to have a special event for our friend to follow. I know that some of you are probably thinking, 'why not just warp your playthrough?'

For that... SHUT UP!

*ahem*

What I mean is, that sounds like that will just get boring to me after awhile, having to do EVERYDAY of the game in a significant chapter. I'd rather cut down by just warping his entire 'free time'. Now will I do that all the time? No. Marie is kind of mandatory that I allow them to have multi-chapter communication. Will I do it when I feel like it? You bet your nipples I will.

And the event can be pretty much whatever you want, within the realm of reason and relating to a _social link_. Hell, I already have a plan for the _ski trip_. So offer your suggestions for the breaks between the sweet sweet violence and I'll try to think of something to fit it in. But for now, I'm basing it off the episode of the anime with Ebihara, because it is too perfect to pass up. I will, of course, do this with the special events with the IT, the school trip to Tatsumi Port Island is already somewhat thought out and actually going to play a _huge_ role in events. But no spoilers. Just know that you can offer an idea for how I can fuck up the social links and events in hilarious ways. If you do and I take the idea, you will get a shout out.


	9. Pretty Woman: Walking Down the Street

_The Previous Day_

"_Guts...?"_

_The man stirred in his sleep, trying to ignore the voice. He needed just a few more minutes..._

"_Guts, you have to wake up," the voice insisted. Though he fought to stay asleep, the soothing tone of the voice urged him to awaken._

"_Come on," the feminine voice now sounded as though it were right next to him, "you can't sleep all day!"_

"_Can certainly try," Guts bluntly replied, though he had a small hint of playfulness in his tone._

"_Aww," the female pouted. "You sound like keeping your eyes closed is better than spending time with me."_

"_We see each other every day," Guts pointed out, "not my fault that it gets tiring."_

"_Am I really such a handful?" The voice asked melodramatically._

"_You both are." Guts cracked his eye open, looking at the woman hovering above him._

"_True," the woman stated proudly._

_Guts heard rapid footsteps, like someone was running to them. The steps got louder as the runner made it to its destination._

"_Is daddy awake now?" _

* * *

Guts shot from his futon, letting out a shout as he rose. He gasped for breath as sweat poured from his body. His eye was wide open, taking in the small bedroom Dojima gave him for the year. Everything was the same as always. He was still in Inaba and not... wherever else he could have been.

"_Another dream?_"

Guts was noticing a trend with his sleep. The constant dreams were starting to drive him crazy! Though, he noticed something about the last one.

"_I felt... happy?_"

Already he was forgetting the specifics, important details slipping his mental grasp. All he knew was that he heard a woman's voice and... that was it. Everything else was long gone. He couldn't even remember what she looked like.

"_Damn it! This is getting ridiculous!_"

"_***yawn* You're tellin' me! What time is it?**_"

The fact that Puck yawned made Guts question the amount of independence the boy-shaped mosquito actually had. Did he even _need_ to sleep?

"_What the hell is wrong with me lately?_"

Guts got to his feet and discarded his sweat covered shirt, once again soaked beyond saving, and checked the clock on the wall. It seemed that he had a new trend of waking up at ungodly hours of the night. The clock read that it was only three in the morning. Yet Guts felt no urge to return to sleep. He was wide awake and seemed to stay that way, no amount of willpower allowed him to rest.

"_Guess there's only one thing to do now..._"

"_**Coffee?**_"

"_You are in my head._"

* * *

Guts sat at the kitchen table, taking long drinks from his mug as he went over what had just happened in his head.

"_I heard a voice... Definitely a woman._"

"_**All right. What else was there?**_"

Puck had decided that he was not going to allow his live-in castle to crack from some stupid dreams keeping him awake! Besides, he could hear Guts' thoughts, why not put in his thoughts?

"_I know she sounded kinda... familiar. Like I knew her for awhile._"

"_**Anyone you know that sounded like she did?**_"

"_Nah. Nobody. She sounded pretty specific._"

"_**How so?**_"

"_She sounded kinda-_"

"Hey," Dojima called, coming down the stairs. He was still wearing his gray shirt with red tie, clearly about to leave for work once again. He seemed surprised to see Guts awake at that hour, "You're still awake?"

"Just woke up," Guts answered, taking a drink from his mug, the bitter taste sticking to his tongue.

"You have another nightmare?" Dojima was sympathetic with the question, his eyes filled with worry as he saw Guts tense up.

"Not really too sure, to be honest," Guts sighed, "Can't remember anything about it."

Dojima could tell he knew something. The way Guts just stared off into space proved that something about his dream bothered him.

"Really? Nothing at all?" Dojima asked skeptically.

"Nothin'," Guts juggled the idea of telling his uncle about the woman. Maybe he knew what it meant? "Except for..."

"For what?" Dojima reflexively braced himself. He heard the horrid details of his nephew's last _dream_. The one that made him worry for the mental health of the teenager before him came crashing back into his mind. Was this one worse than the last?

"I heard a voice," Guts admitted, "a _woman's_ voice."

"What did she say?" Dojima felt slightly calmer at that. Hopefully it wasn't anything cryptic or disturbing.

"All she did was say that I needed to wake up." Guts pressed his fingers against his temple, feeling a headache beginning to form. Recalling what played out seemed to have been _physically _painful, his head throbbing as he repeated the only fragment he could remember.

"Really? That's it?" Dojima released the tension he didn't even know he held. So it was only a weird dream... Yet it drove his nephew to once again wake up in the middle of the night.

"Y-Yeah..." Guts felt like an idiot. How could something stupid like a weird dream mess with him? He knew it did, but he couldn't figure out why.

"At least it's an improvement over the last _dream_," Dojima offered, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"True," Guts cracked a smile. His uncle was right. From what he remembered, he wasn't about to _sexually assault_ anyone. That's always a plus. Guts looked around the living room, taking note of things he never saw before. The pile of shoes by the door and the calendar on the wall being two of the obvious examples.

However, Guts found his interest peaked by a framed photograph laying face-down on the desk, next to the telephone. Just the aura it gave off made him feel a sense of hopelessness he never knew before.

"Like the desk?" Dojima asked sarcastically, seeing Guts stare at the wooden contraption.

Guts turned to see Dojima, who had a smirk on his face.

"Yeah it's... nice?" Guts could see something in Dojima that told him not to inquire about the picture. Something that made him sure that he wasn't the only one in the family with violent tendencies.

"It's a cheap oak we bought from a magazine," Dojima chuckled, more relaxed, "I expected it to break in the first week. Thing's been here longer than Nanako."

They sunk back into silence, neither knowing where to start a conversation from. The generational gap wouldn't even begin to challenge the difficulties the two already had to relate to each other. What were they going to do? Talk about the kind of girl they like?

"So what kinda girl do you like?"

Guts' attention flew to his uncle, who was staring into his coffee. Clearly he was desperate for a subject. Not that Guts could blame him, the two don't exactly have much in common.

Seeing that the silence was starting to suffocate him, Guts answered.

"Guess I like-"

* * *

Guts mentally made sure to swear off women for the rest of his life. Guts sat in his desk as Chie gave her best attempt at puppy-dog eyes, her lip quivering to add to the effect.

"No." Guts stood firm.

"Come on!" Chie pleaded, almost whining.

"No!"

"You owe me!" Chie prodded Guts' shoulder with her finger.

"No!" Guts refused to budge, gritting his teeth as he gave a death glare to his jacket-wearing friend.

"Me and Yosuke practically saved you, remember?" Chie smirked as she played her trump card, the battle with Yukiko's Shadow.

"I said no," Guts stood up from his desk, "I ain't budging on the matter."

"You could've died without us," Chie said looked at her nails mockingly.

"NO!" Guts roared, practically shaking the classroom. "There is no way that I will-!"

* * *

"-JOIN THE MOTHERFUCKING BASKETBALL TEAM!"

Guts looked to the ground in defeat. He was bested. He could only take the shame and fuel his desire for inevitable revenge against the bowl-haired tomboy. She would feel his wrath...

"Wow..." A blue haired player choked out in response. "You're pretty excited about this, aren't ya?"

The three stood in the school gym, the thick stench of the wooden floor causing Guts and Chie to feel slightly light-headed. They heard the squeaking of shoes from the team practicing as they spoke with the team's captain.

"Oh, you bet!" Chie slapped Guts on the shoulder, reveling in her victory. "He can't wait to help you guys out!"

"I'm gonna kill you... _slowly_..." Guts could only growl out in response. He would start with that buck-toothed sonofabitch that Chie convinced to sign him up in the first place. He had to have known that it pissed him off. No other explanation. Otherwise, he would have been able to _drop out and not risk expulsion_! What was wrong with that psycho!? Besides the inevitable beating that he would suffer, of course.

"That's awesome, man!" The team captain said excitedly. "We could always use more players." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Kou Ichijo."

Guts shook Kou's hand, almost tearing his arm off in the process.

"I'm Guts," the greeting was short and simple. All that it needed to be.

Another player walked up to the three, this one having short, dark brown hair and brown eyes. He wore the school gym uniform and had a brown band-aid on his nose. He gave a warm smile as he approached the group.

"Yo, Ichijo!" He called out to his apparent friend. "Recruited another one, huh?"

Chie gave a disapproving stare to the newest member to the conversation, "Hey, I thought you weren't gonna ditch practice today!?"

"I'm helpin' them out," the brown-haired male said nervously as he rubbed his neck, "Not my fault the team's low on members."

Guts could only stand there, baffled at the situation. He was practically sold to a group of people he didn't even know and they were already trying to get all 'buddy buddy' with him. Why was Chie acting like she knew pretty much everyone in the room? Guts never noticed her hanging out with anyone besides him, Yukiko, and Yosuke.

"I'm Daisuke Nagase," the other athlete greeted, catching Guts' attention, "I'm with the soccer team."

"So why're you hanging out with the basketball team?" Didn't athletes have rivalries over whose sport was best or something?

"Oh, me and Ichijo go way back. I help out sometimes because of the lack of players," Daisuke turned his head to the four other 'team' members in the gym, mainly just conversing and not practicing.

"In fact," Kou added desperately, "they say they'll shut our team down if we don't get more people. So we'd love a new recruit!" The blue-haired student tried not to sound hopeless as he saw the displeased look on the larger man. "E-Even if it's just for a little bit!" Seeing the look not vanishing, he clapped his hands together and gave a bow. "Please, man, I'm begging you!"

Guts merely gave a sigh.

"_Fuck it._"

"Fuck it."

"Hey," Kou addressed his team members, all standing in a row for the announcement, "we gotta a new temp team member! His name's Guts, so be good to him." Kou jabbed Guts with his elbow and whispered, "Hey, come on, say somethin'."

"Hey." Guts merely waved his fake hand.

The team all replied with a simple greetings, none getting past two words. Guts noticed the severely low number of people in front of him. Kou wasn't kidding.

"H-Hey!" Kou addressed the team. "Where is everyone?"

"They all bailed, dude," one player said.

"We wanted to work on rebounds but they said they were tired and left," another player added on.

"Again..." Kou said hopelessly, almost dropping to his knees. Kou turned his head to the extremely attractive girl at the end of the row of players.

She wore the school's usual female uniform with a lace-fringed choker along with a pink turtleneck poking out from the neck of her sailor-style suit jacket. On her legs she wore white stockings that seemed to glow in the fluorescent lighting of the gymnasium. Her hair was shoulder length and a rich, dark brown that matched her eyes. The girl had an aura of superiority around her. As if she expected everyone to follow her orders no matter what, her word was law.

"Oh!" Kou tried to perk up as he introduced the girl to Guts. "This is Ai Ebihara. She's our team's manager."

"Don't bother trying to ask me for help," Ebihara said coldly, running a hand through her long hair. "I'm usually not even her." With that, she already turned towards the door to the gym, making her way to it with a prideful stride.

"H-Hey! We still gotta clean up!" Kou called out desperately to the prima donna.

"Not my problem!" Ai answered casually, waving one of her slender hands mockingly.

The rest of the team followed suit and made their way to the door, their 'captain' frustrated and hopeless.

"W-Wait!" Kou tried to take control of the situation and his team. "Where are you guys going?"

"We gotta head out," one of the players answered as he caught up to his friends.

"Yeah, there's a party tonight." Another player said as he walked past Kou.

That was all he managed to get from the others as they left, leaving Kou with Daisuke and Guts. Daisuke gave his friend a sympathetic look while Guts was trying his best not to chuckle. The fact that the so called 'captain of the team' wasn't even able to keep his own players under control left him with a darkly humorous look on the matter.

"Looks like practice is over," Daisuke offered jokingly, trying to perk up his friend.

"Yeah..." Kou just shrugged.

"Let's head over to Aiya's. That always makes ya feel better." Daisuke slapped Kou on the back as he wore a smirk.

"Why not?" Kou smiled when the name of his favorite restaurant was mentioned. "We can take the new guy along with us!"

Guts sighed as the two athletes looked towards him, seemingly wanting his permission. Once again he called upon the only answer he could deem acceptable in that situation of 'voluntary kidnappings'.

"_Fuck it._"

"Fuck it."

* * *

The three sat inside of Aiya's Chinese Restaurant, crushed between the stools they sat on and the leather booths no more than a foot behind them. The place was cram packed with all sorts of people, the roar of the various conversations made the three high school students try to match the volume just to hear each other. Their vocal cords would punish them later, surely.

"So, dude..." Kou began, directing the conversation to the newest member of the team, who had cleaned his plate before the other two even got their orders.

Guts' eye looked to the boy at his left, the only direction he would be able to see without turning his head.

"Do you think you can play basketball with your... uh..." Kou went wide-eyed and lost his voice as he tried his best to not piss off the guy that half the school thought killed a bunch of people. He knew the rumors had to have been just gossip. Guts wouldn't really do that... right?

"The bum eye and the metal fist?" Guts asked, almost reflexively. He clenched his fist, trying to grasp at something on his uniform sleeve that wasn't there. It all just felt _wrong_ to him. It felt unnatural.

"Y-Yeah..." Daisuke tried to sound normal as he confirmed the black-haired cripple's suspicion. He noticed how Guts grit his teeth in annoyance, clenching his jaw and exposing his teeth. "W-We just mean that if you need any help practicing, we're here for ya."

"I'll be fine." Guts drank the tall glass of water he was given, trying to moisten his throat. But no matter how much he drank he still felt thirsty, like his throat was sandpaper.

"You say that now," Kou retorted smugly, "but you'll come crawling to the great Ichijo before the week's over. I'll bet money on that."

"Tellin' ya. I'll be fine." Guts shrugged at the blue-haired boy. "Been livin' like this for a bit."

"Yeesh." Kou glanced to the metallic hand resting against the counter they sat against.

"Yep." Guts glared at Kou. "Now let's change the subject."

* * *

Chie was having a boring day. Beyond practically selling Guts to the basketball team her day was pretty routine.

Go to class. Listen to lecture. Pretend to take notes. Think about kung fu movies. Repeat.

She was thankful that Yukiko was safe, at least. She shuddered at what could have happened if her and her friends had not rescued the red wearing girl. Still, the way Guts acted during the whole experience weighed on her mind.

"_What was wrong with that guy?_" Chie whispered in her head. "_It was like he was a completely different person._"

Though she had not known him long, she was confident in her judgment of his character. He was an asshole when he wanted to be, but the whole 'psycho-killer' image didn't really fit him.

"_Ah forget it! I got better things to worry about right now._"

Mainly figuring out what the hell the teacher just said.

* * *

By the time Guts managed to get away from the athletes that were trying to treat him like a dear old drinking buddy, the sun was already long past set. Guts walked through the shopping district, passing the tofu store and Daidara's. The night brought a chill to Guts, the sun's warmth no longer present.

No one was anywhere to be seen. Not a single person was in the district besides the six-foot giant.

His footsteps scrapped across the asphalt as he made his way back to Dojima's, the synchronized pattern melting into a jumble as Guts stopped paying attention to it. He had that feeling in his stomach all over again. The ball of ice causing him to look over his shoulder any chance he got. Yet every time he did, he saw nothing but the empty street.

"_I'm startin' to lose it._"

The silence greeted him once again. He tried his best to stop peering to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of something at the corner of his vision. The last thing he needed was to go crazy in the middle of town, regardless if any people were even watching. Every time he stared off into an exceptionally deep patch of darkness, he swore he could have seen... _something_.

Something hidden in the spaces that buildings shielded from the streetlights or even the dim light the moon gave off. Like it was shifting around in the darkness, trying to hide from the light. This happened more than once. It seemed that everywhere he looked there was some type of movement in the darkness. It was as if it was the darkness itself moving, trying to burrow itself deeper within its own emptiness. He found himself staring into the alley way between the tofu shop and the general store that he couldn't remember the name of. The silence caught his attention, making him realize that he stopped moving. He was just staring off into the black void in front of him.

The black space seemed as if a part of the world just vanished, leaving nothing whatsoever. It seemed so thick that he doubted that even a flashlight could have helped him. Though the darkness seemed to remain completely empty, Guts could hear something faint in it.

The noise was consistent, almost pattern like. It sounded as if an animal was coming out of the void, the sounds of paws smacking against the ground rang in Guts' ears.

"_Probably just a lost dog or somethin'..._"

But the grunts and growls of the creature answered differently. It sounded more like a rabid animal, constantly snapping and barking as it got closer.

The light of its eyes pierced through the darkness, glowing a dark and monstrous red.

"_**You know what you are?**_"

The sound of its... _voice_ was enough to paralyze Guts.

Though the shock of it all made him numb, he could feel a familiar tingle coming from his neck.

* * *

Kanji Tatsumi was having a pretty shitty day. First he slept in... _again_. Then he realized that he forgot his algebra homework and had to rush all the way back to his house to get it so he could at least keep a stable grade and not flunk out. Add that to a couple of girls at school catching him spying on the sewing club and proceeded to mock him for it. Then a trip to the principal's for making said girls cry. Finally, add in a little bit of homophobic jokes against his character for his assignment for art class. Mainly for the high quality it had.

"_Jeez. I'm ready to just pass out and forget about all'a this shit._"

He walked through the shopping district, trying to get to his family's textile shop where he and his mother worked/lived. Kanji was so drained by the events of the day that he could barely keep his eyes open, each one threatening to close and make him pass out in the street. He was sure he'd be able to make it to his house. A man's gotta push himself further each time he's put down!

"_Okay. I'll admit that one was pretty shit..._" His attempts at wisdom in regards to masculinity haven't always steered him towards badass one-liners.

Kanji could hear what sounded like shouts coming from further down the street, he himself just reaching the Moel gas station. They sounded extremely close, him being able to pick out what was being said.

"I SAID SHUT UP, YOU MANGY SHIT!"

Nothing but silence answered back. Kanji pressed himself against the wall of the bookstore next-door to Moel, trying to peek out at whoever was freaking out. The darkness was too thick, however, and he could only hear the angered rant continue.

"SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"_Great. Some mental patient's rambling on and causin' a scene._" Kanji also noticed the fact that the screams just so happened to be coming from the direction of _his destination_. Meaning he had to walk past the psycho that was spouting that shit.

"I'LL KILL YOU! LIKE I DID YOUR BUDDIES, FLEABAG!"

That caught Kanji's attention.

"_Wasn't there some story about a dude killin' people lately...?_" There was no way the same guy who managed to leave zero evidence in the murders was just screaming his crimes at the top of his lungs! Yet he guessed it made sense. Some crazy guy forgot his meds and started killin' people. He just so happened to be really good at it... Shit.

"_Dilemma time,_" Kanji inferred from the situation, "_A: try to sneak past him and not risk ending up on an antenna. Or B: take this asshole down right here and now!_" After a few moments of severe think- "_Ah fuck it, B it is!_"

Kanji charged from his hiding place, ready to jump the guy before he knew what hit him! Literally!

However, he stopped when he saw a disturbing sight.

It was the transfer-student... yelling at nothing...

* * *

"_SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!_"

"_**You know you need to do it. Just once.**_"

"BE QUIET!"

"_**Shouting out loud won't do anything. I'm from you. Your **_**anger**_**. Your **_**hatred**_**. Your **_**fear**_**.**_"

The horrid beast licked its 'lips', the whole creature looking as if it were made out of oil, just melting and swishing in the air and it coiled itself around Guts. The monster was almost a mixture of a serpent and a large dog, the head and limbs giving off a hound-like appearance while the body itself slid freely through the air. Its maw was filled with bright, flesh-shredding teeth that it showed with pride. Its paws held claws that threatened to carve into the body of the high school student. Everything about the monster was enough to terrify any unfortunate soul that looked upon the figure.

"_**Every single part of you is **_**mine**_**! Your flesh is **_**mine**_**! Your heart is **_**mine**_**! Nothing will save you from an eternity in Hell, boy!**_"

"Dude, you alright?"

Guts snapped his neck to the only other human being in the shopping district, Kanji Tatsumi. The dye-blonde just stared at Guts, perplexed by the one-sided shouting match.

Guts could feel the beast was gone, not a sign to be seen. He caught the breath he never realized he lost and felt sweat pour down his face, despite the chill. Once again silence drilled into the atmosphere, suffocating the two.

"I'm... fine." Was all Guts could gasp out, the weight of the ordeal crashing down on him.

"You sure? You just screamed at nothin' for the past ten minutes." Kanji was still wary of the possibly psychotic student in front of him. Was the dude schizophrenic or somethin'?

"I'm fine!" Guts snapped back, his eyes going wide and a wild snarl showing itself. "Just need to get some sleep..."

"Yeah... you do that." Kanji walked away, leaving the other who was still staring off into the dark.

"_Man, that shit was hard to watch._" Kanji tried to shake the incident from his mind as he went home.

"_Fuck... I really am going crazy..._" Guts had a harder time doing it himself. Plus side, he now had interesting conversation material for the others...

"_Scratch that. That can only end bad._"

* * *

Guts entered the Dojima household to see Nanako still awake and watching television. Dojima was nowhere to be seen, giving the house a haunting aura to it with just the little girl.

"You're back." Nanako stated simply, looking at Guts' disheveled appearance. His uniform was a wrinkled and sweaty mess, in no way presentable to anyone. She took note of the elder's wide-eyed look, something her father called the 'thousand-yard-stare'.

"Um... Are you okay?" Nanako asked innocently.

"I'm alright." Guts answered, making his way up the stairs. "Just saw something that freaked me out."

"Was it a ghost?" Nanako asked curiously. She never knew something could freak out her cousin. He looked like those action stars on TV, and they're usually not afraid of anything!

"Kinda." Was all Guts answered back.

* * *

_Guts was beyond exhaustion. Every movement felt like a ton of bricks tearing through the muscles of her body. The more she lifted her legs, the harder it became to repeat. But she had one objective in mind! The ultimate mission that threatened her very existence if it were not complete!_

_She had to get to school! _

_Guts had awoken that morning over ten minutes late and rushed herself out the door, skipping breakfast and even saying goodbye to her parents for the day. Worse yet, rain poured down and soaked her uniform and most of her stuff. Her umbrella was left back at her house, far past the point of no return. _

"_Crap! Crap! Crap! Why did it have to be today of all days!?" _

_Guts felt like she was cursed. More so than what she was already cursed with. The least feminine name in the history of the world and looks to boot. Granted she was actually quite attractive, her stature made the boys at her school rather... intimidated. She was easily the tallest in school all together, causing quite a bit of teasing from her fellow students. _

_The thoughts her torn from her mind when she finally reached the gates of Yasogami, soaked to the bone._

"_Please may King Moron have mercy on my soul!"_

"_Yo, Guts!" A familiar voice called from behind._

* * *

"What... the... fuck?"

Getting used to the routine, Guts shot his eyelid open as he was wakened by yet another strange dream. This one, however, stayed fresh in his mind. Despite all attempts to _burn it and never think about it again_!

"_***Yawn* Aw man! What'd I miss?**_" The all familiar voice of Puck asked.

"_NOTHING! You missed absolutely nothing!_"

"_**I can read your thoughts, you know? I'll just...**_" Puck trailed off as he scanned the subconscious of his user, finding the memories of the dream as he did so.

"_**Holy shit...**_"

"_Don't you say anything!_"

"_**I mean... God!**_"

"_I mean it, you little pest!_"

"_**But Guts!**_"

"_What!?_"

"_**You were **_**hot**_**!**_"

"_GOD-FUCKING-DAMN IT!_"

* * *

Yosuke shot himself from his futon, sweat pouring down his face. He had just had the _worst _nightmare he ever had! Just thinking about it sent chills down his back and threatened to make him curl up in a little ball and start sobbing. Even the disturbed minds of Lovecraft or H.I. Geiger couldn't match what his mind had just thought of.

"_Why was Guts so hot!?_"

For some reason, he dreamed of his friend as a girl... an attractive one at that. He had no idea how to interpret dreams, and now he never wanted to try. All he knew was that some secrets are meant to _never be talked about to anyone_. This was one of those secrets.

* * *

_**Next Time:**_

_"I'll only forgive you if you say you love me." _

_"I'm gonna kill myself!"_

_"I'm losing my goddamned mind..."_

_**"Guts...? Is that**_** you...?"**

* * *

_A/N_

So after a severely long writing period, you all get! A chapter less than even 10,000 words... Lame...

Still. I made this one short because it is the beginning of the next 'arc' of the story. Also because a LOT of shit happens that I felt shouldn't be tacked on to a massive chapter but should be there to have their own spot light. Also, the Hell-Hound is here! Man is he gonna be fun. And those dreams just seem to be getting weirder and weirder.

Actually, I love writing those because of how weird I can make them. They're a breath of fresh air that I can take to explore more and change around stuff. And Kanji now thinks Guts is a total psycho! No way that will play into future events, right? It also seems that Puck wasn't really that involved considering all the shit that happens... Though that may be for reasons stated in an earlier chapter...

And poor Yosuke... dreaming about a sexy R63 version of your friend... There's no way THAT will- Ah fuck it, you know I'm a dick and will exploit this.

Until next time, this has been Plague. Have a good one!


	10. Pretty Woman: Not So Pretty

Guts was once again sitting in his familiar spot at the kitchen table, waiting for his coffee to finish once more. Though he looked stoic and calm on the outside, he was practically abusing the company within his head.

"_So you're saying that nothing else is in there?_" Guts growled in his mind.

"_**Yes! That's what I've been saying for the past hour.**_" Puck reassured. The small pixie noticed how the answer made his user just more upset than anything else.

"_Then why could I see that fucked up dog and no one else could?_"

"_**I don't know...**_" That was all Guts called his hallucination. No other description, not even what it said.

"_Figure it out, bug._"

Silence drowned the two as their conversation was ended with that one order. The house felt lifeless without the presence of the little girl and her father, one of which pulling a shift that drug him far into the hours of the night and the other fast asleep.

Sleep. The word felt bitter in Guts' mind. The past week had left the scarred student with little sleep, at least the kind that truly earned the name and not just fatigue that caused him to pass out for a few minutes. The dreams just got weirder and weirder each night, ripping away any form of rest and leaving him to rely on caffeine and adrenaline to just stay on his feet. It felt like he would be punished any time he tried to lay his head down for a moment or two.

A yawn caught Guts' attention, jolting him awake before he realized that it was _his own _yawn.

"_Damn... I need to get some kinda sleep before I crack._"

He lifted his coffee cup to his mouth and took a long drink. The sensation was welcome as the beverage caused a noticeable change in the endurance of the teen, shaking him awake for the time being. It was there that he never recalled ever getting a mug... or that the coffee was even finished. Yet, in his hand, there was the same mug he found himself drawn to filled with that familiar concoction that was the key to his salvation.

"_I really am losing it._"

* * *

Guts made his way through the halls of Yasogami High, noticing the distinct lack of students around him. In fact, he was the only one in the hallway whatsoever. The echo of his footsteps roared as the emptiness provided nothing that could have diluted it. He shuffled himself in his uniform coat, feeling uncomfortable once again.

"_I feel like a monkey._"

He felt restrained. Like he was being held back by the clothing he was required to wear. He once again found himself groping in the air, hoping to grab a handful of something around his shoulders. The _exposure_ is what annoyed him the most. He needed to be ready for anything, yet he was being purposefully crippled in terms of protection. There was no way that a suit jacket would stop a swor-.

"_Wait, what?_"

"Oh, it's you." A familiar, and stuck up, voice called out. Ai Ebihara made her way down the stairs as Guts approached them, the sound of her heels clacking against the floor giving him a headache.

"You're Ebi, right?" Guts stated tersely, his eye following the prima donna as she walked up to him.

"To some people!" Ebihara huffed out, remembering the cruel nickname she had. "To you, it's Ai Ebihara!"

"Whatever." Guts took note of her appearance, fresh makeup along with her hair that looked as though she had just finished fighting with it to stay presentable. Though what stuck out the most was the slip of paper in her hand, the words 'Excused' stamped on it in a deep, dark red. "You goin' somewhere?"

"I have to go get some things for the basketball team," Ebihara said as she turned to leave, momentarily stealing a glance at Guts. "If you're available, I could use your help."

"_**It'd be a good way to get Chie on your good side...!**_"

"_Oh right... You're still here._"

"_**Sports guys too!**_"

"_You sound so confident, yet I know you have no idea if that's even true._"

"_**Just do it, you big lug...!**_"

"_Why are you being so buddy-buddy right now?_"

"Were you even paying attention?" Ai asked, frustrated. She wore a scowl that slightly smeared parts of her makeup.

"Yeah," Guts blocked out the near-shrieking voice of the elf in his head, "let's get going."

* * *

The two teens walked down the street of Okina City, one clearly more excited than the other. People of all types bumped into the two as they made their way from store to store, none of which anywhere close to being sports related.

"_How the hell does a new skirt have anything to do with basketball?_" Guts looked down at the bags he was forced to carry for the ice queen that practically skipped down the street ahead of him.

"Oh this is so great!" Ebihara cheered as the duo entered another store, this one selling all sorts of clothing that killed Guts' masculinity just looking at them. "I've never had anyone to carry my things before!"

"Great..." Guts growled out bitterly, "Help someone out and become a human pack-mule." He grit his teeth as he imagined all the ways he could shove the pair of sunglasses with two pairs cartoonish lips for rims down the girl's throat as she placed them around _his face_.

"_I swear, I will kill Chie for this..._"

"You know," Ebihara began, the two now sitting in the courtyard of a nearby cafe, "you really surprised me." She took a drink from her beverage with the name that perplexed the young man, who had just ordered a black coffee.

"What do ya mean?" Guts felt his throat burn as he took a large gulp of his order. Though, compared to the agony he felt during his battles with the Shadows, it barely hurt whatsoever.

"I thought for sure that you would hate coming along with me," Ebihara looked off to the side, sounding melodramatic.

"No, it was..." Guts searched around for the right word, "_Interesting_."

Ebihara gave a frown at his statement.

"I haven't skipped school in a while," Guts shrugged in his seat, the stiff plastic chair reminding him of the Junes food-court. "Kinda nostalgic."

"Good," Ebihara gave a wicked smile, "I was worried you would be a boring square, but you're actually pretty interesting yourself." Ebihara placed her elbow on the table and her head in her hand. Her smile melted into a much kinder one. "We should hang out again! But maybe we should do it _after school_. Okay?"

"_Good grief..._"

* * *

"_So what are you waiting for...? Do it." _

_Guts laid on his knees, blood spilling from his body in buckets. His armor was broken and shattered, his cloak torn to pieces and what was left barely hung on, his weapons laid destroyed before him. Even his massive sword was split apart, fragments of broken iron and uneven pieces littered the ground before him. Every breath felt harder to take, with results becoming smaller and smaller. He was splashed head to toe in that familiar black substance, almost painting him completely in the dark ink. _

_He called out to the more slender form before him, clutching a revolver in its hand._

"_DO IT!"_

_The gun made a quick bang as it fired._

* * *

Guts was used to the routine by that point.

Already he was in the kitchen and simply stared at the clock on the wall, watching the hours flow. It all felt rehearsed, which it almost was.

The bombardment of dreams during his time in Inaba was still made no sense to him. Why then? Why had he never had them before he arrived? Did it have something to do with that place in the TV?

"_Doesn't really matter, I guess._"

Still. The mornings weren't the only thing that felt routine. He could tell that he was almost on auto-pilot, every action performed before he even registered it. It all felt robotic. His mind almost felt muddled, it all becoming a haze in his head.

_**Drip.**_

_**Drip.**_

_**Drip.**_

Guts looked down to see something dark dripping into his coffee. Thick, heavy droplets fell into the mug. The stench of copper threatened to choke him as he realized what it was.

It was blood.

"_That's... not... goo—_"

He was unconscious before he knew what had happened.

* * *

"Hey, Guts!"

It all felt alien. He knew where he was moments before, yet he was no longer there.

"Guts!"

How could he have gotten there? He was passed out on the kitchen floor!

"Dude? Guts, stop ignoring me!"

Something was going on. It was obvious at that point. The whole question was wha-

"GUTS!"

Kou's voice tore him from his thoughts. The basketball obsessed teen had a worried expression as he scanned his new teammate's face. Somehow Guts went from the kitchen at the Dojima residence to the school gymnasium, where he was now practicing with the rest of the team.

"What the hell...?" Guts was wide-eyed as he looked around, seeing the rest of the team practicing without him and Kou tapping his foot impatiently.

"_I_ should be asking _you _that!" Kou jabbed at his friend playfully, hoping to defuse the situation with humor. It was so weird to see Guts that morning, his personality the total opposite of normal. He acted like a totally different person!

"How the fuck did I get here!?" Guts grew a sneer as he grit his teeth.

"Uh... you walked in?" Kou was mind-boggled by the question.

"NO!" Guts barked out, rage overflowing him. "That can't be true because I passed out this morning! There is no way I could have made it here!"

Kou just stared at his teammate.

"I blacked out hours before school and I just now woke up!" Guts gave the short version of the story, not adding in the nosebleed or the dream he had.

"Dude, you came to school alright," Kou said, almost sounding hesitant.

"What the hell does that mean?" Guts glared at the basketball player, who practically went white as a sheet.

"I mean that you've been acting weird all day, man." Kou stole peeks of his team, seeing that they too were stealing glances at the dark-haired male. It was quite the spectacle that morning.

"Stop beating around the bush and tell me!" Guts practically went white-eyed.

"You've been possibly the cheeriest person in school all day."

The whole gymnasium went dead silent.

Guts merely stared at Kou.

* * *

Yosuke and Chie walked together towards the gym, hoping to retrieve Guts and get to Junes. The two felt that they should look over the case notes they made now that they were rested and energized once again. Though... their friend sure acted weird all day.

"I can't believe he helped paint the third floor with the maintenance club..." Yosuke recalled in disbelief. He remembered how he went to the third-year floor to get to the roof, going to get Chie for class as their lunch ended. There he saw Guts, splattered head to toe in paint and laughing with some of the seniors as they repainted the halls.

"I can't believe how he helped the drama club..." Chie saw the school listings for their latest performance. Why Guts auditioned to be in 'Macbeth vs. 1984', she will never know...

The duo was unable to ever actually speak with him that day, all three kept separate by clubs and differing class schedules beyond Homeroom and lunch. Still, they knew what he was like. So they could tell that something was _very wrong_.

The girlish shriek helped bolster their fear.

"Wh-What was that!" Yosuke called out nervously as they shot down the halls, rushing to the source of the sound as fast as they could.

"I don't know!" Chie called out, making much better progress than Yosuke due to her 'training'.

The solid double-doors greeted the two as they reached their destination. Ironically, it being the same as their original goal.

"Let's do this!" Chie gave a heavy kick to the door, nearly breaking both off their hinges.

* * *

Guts walked with Ebihara outside of the gymnasium, taking shelter from the coming rain with the sidewalk awning. She had walked in just as Guts was told about his strange behavior. It turned out that he was nice with _everyone _during his blackout, including Ebihara.

"You also helped out Ayane, that terrible band player, with her trombone. She still sucks, but just not as bad." Ebihara was counting off all the good deeds he had performed on her fingers, already on her fifth and moving on to the next hand. "You volunteered to teach the sewing class when the teacher stepped out for a bit. Which I gotta say, I had no idea you were that good."

"_I've never sewn in my life..._"

"You acted all arm-chair therapist to some girl who was crying her eyes out in the bathroom."

"_What the hell...?_"

"You saved a dog that got lost and gave it back to the blind kid."

"_I hate dogs..._"

"You found out what one of the girls was interested in and told the guy that liked her."

"_You've gotta be kidding me!_"

"You also helped translate for a little kid that could only speak Spanish because he got separated from his mom."

"_I ONLY KNOW FUCKING-!_"

"You also-"

"I get it!" Guts smacked his face with a palm in embarrassment. He couldn't help but think about how much of a jackass he must have been. What the hell happened? He went from passing out in the kitchen to being a saint for a few hours? That didn't make any sense!

It was all getting jumbled in his head. He needed to clear his mind. Just blow off some steam for a few hours and get himself back on track.

"_**Come on! Let's go kill something. It's been too long, and I'm way outta practice...!**_" The menacing growl of the Hound offered. Though... A few hours in the TV world didn't sound too bad. Just a few... Not too long! Just enough to tide him over.

"H-Hey," Ebihara called out nervously, twiddling her fingers as she bit her lip, "d-did you do what I asked you to do?"

"What was that?" Guts couldn't recall what favor she asked him to do for her. Hopefully it wasn't too stupi-.

"You were supposed to find out what girl Ichijo liked!" Ebihara huffed, her face as red as a beet.

"_Fuck my life..._"

There was absolutely no way he was budging on this one! He'd rather go to some all-male bathhouse than make himself look that idiotic! There was no way in hell he was going to ask Kou-!

* * *

"You wanna know _what_!?" Kou went red in the face as he placed his icepack over his testicles, which made an introduction with the metallic fist of Guts not too long ago. That guy had serious issues...

"Some girl asked me to find out." Guts admitted tersely. He still had some form of dignity.

"W-Well... If you really need to know..." Kou looked around in the supply room the two stood in, the stench of old rubber and rotting wood making them light-headed. The cramped conditions didn't make it any better as the heavy carts full of supplies constricted any breathing room possible.

"_Ch..._" Kou's face now rivaled Yukiko's sweater as he mumbled out the name of his secret crush.

"Who...?" Guts asked, nearly barking out the order. His day was just getting crazier and crazier... Even his time in the TV world felt somewhat sane in comparison to what his week had been like. It sounded as if they all belonged in some shitty high school show or something...

"Chie, alright!" Kou threw the icebag down, caught up by the moment.

Guts once again merely stared at the boy.

"Oh, go ahead and laugh!" Kou ranted one. "Man, I'm so jealous you get to sit next to her everyday!" Kou stormed out of the supply room, embarrassment overflowing inside of him.

"_Oh... shit..._"

Guts looked down to see a destroyed Ebihara, sulking in one of the crates containing basketballs.

"_I swear to God, if you freak out!_"

* * *

"I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF!"

Ebihara had tears pouring down her cheeks as she grabbed hold of the chain-link fence on the school's rooftop. Her sobs drowned out the angered bellows of Guts, who had grabbed her in an attempt to pull her off the fence before she did anything stupid.

"I know that Chie chick!" Ebihara had pure venom in her tone, each word hissed out between her wails. "How could I lose to a dog like her? I'm way cuter than she'll ever be!"

Eventually, her energy was sapped and she collapsed into a crying ball on the rooftop. This continued until she had finally calmed herself down and managed to find her voice once again, occasional sniffles still peeking out in her speech.

"I used to be the ugly fat girl when I was younger..." Ebihara closed her eyes as the memories came flooding back. All the anger she felt and how powerless she was to do anything. "All the girls made fun of me and called me names like 'Gross Girl' or 'Piggyhara'..."

"_Okay... that last one is fucking hilarious!"_

Though Guts had to choke back his laughs as Ebihara continued her tale.

"Then my family came into a lot of money and we moved here. I read fashion magazines like they were text books and looked up tips on how to be cute and popular..." Ebihara felt her mascara stream down her face as her tears flowed once more. "But still... nobody likes me!"

"Because you're a bitch." Guts didn't even try to soften the blow. "You take the fact you worked so hard to get where you are for granted, and treat other people like dirt that don't meet 'your standards'. Then you complain when people don't want anything to do with you." Guts crouched down next to the girl, now sobbing even harder. "You're problem is that you don't know when to tell people to fuck off or give them a handshake."

"Wh-What are you talking about!?" Ebihara couldn't believe that that asshole was critiquing _her_! What made him so perfect!? He certainly wasn't any Prince Charming himself!

"Hell, I bet you're already thinking of ways to get under my skin for saying all this." Guts smirked as Ebihara eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, showing that he hit the mark.

The air went heavy between the two, Guts convinced he won the mind game between them. Ebihara just stared at him for several minutes, her eyes drilling their way into any conceivable idea to throw him off his game.

"Hey, why don't you and I go out?"

Wait... what?

"What?"

Of all the reactions he had expected, that was not anywhere near one of them. Not even in the top fifty.

"Come on," Ebihara got to her feet and inched herself closer and closer to Guts, "Give me your love..."

"Wh-What the hell is wrong with you!?" Guts panicked as the prima donna pressed her body against his, sliding her face closer. He could feel her breath lap against his cheek as her lips were mere centimeters from his.

"DO IT, OR I'LL KILL MYSELF!"

The sudden shriek caused the already traumatized teen to jump back, falling against the fence as his heart threatened to break from his ribcage. He looked up to see the queen bee holding out her hand to help him out as she wore a mockingly cute smile.

"You're serious?"

"Do you really want to risk finding out?"

"_...FUCK!_"

* * *

Guts' armor clanked and clanged as he adjusted his chest-plate and bandolier. His cloak wafted in the slight breeze flowing in from his room's open window.

"_Finally! I really needed this._"

Not ten minutes earlier, he received a message from Yosuke. All it said was that him and Chie were going into the TV world for training and that he should come along with them. Needless to say, Guts was excited. It was their day off school, Sunday, and he was finally able to make use out of it.

"_After all this high school shit, I really need to blow off some steam._"

He wondered if he should be worried about his eagerness to start killing things, but then he decided that he didn't care. Better monsters that no one knew about than people that can get you arrested. Besides, everyone has a hobby. What made his so different? Sure it wasn't college resume material, but it was something that made him feel... worthwhile.

Guts' eye made its way to the massive sword, barely hidden by his futon. The slab of iron that would have made any other blacksmith, besides its creator, smack you upside the head for calling it a blade. Something about it calmed down Guts. He couldn't explain it. But just being around it made him feel peaceful.

"_As long as I'm swingin' that thing, I don't give a shit who it's goin' to._"

The statement just came out of nowhere. It was like ordering a drink at a restaurant or telling someone your name. It just flowed out from his brain and stuck against his memory. What made him anxious was that he couldn't _disagree_ with it. He really didn't care.

"_Doesn't matter._" Guts shook the thought from his head. "_I gotta get my head in the game._"

He opened the door to his bedroom, ready to head to Junes.

"_I can finally get some _me _time._"

* * *

"_I FUCKING HATE EVERYONE!_"

What had started off as an optimistic start to his day off from school quickly turned into a frustrating battle with a very familiar trio of students that decided to unload their problems onto him right as he stepped outside.

Ai Ebihara was waiting outside of his house and demanded that they walk around town together, doing nothing else but gossiping about other students and critiquing Guts' armor for its lack of 'style'.

"Honestly, black is so boring and depressing," Ebihara explained, showing her fashion knowledge. "You look like a total emo with all that on. And why are you wearing a bunch of metal stuff on you? Oh please don't tell me you're a cosplayer! I don't need a boyfriend who's a total nerd! I'll just die if that's true..."

Ebihara was not the only one who decided to keep Guts from seeing what Shadows use for a pancreas. Kou and Daisuke both just so happened to be outside of the local bookstore in the shopping district, where Guts was at least granted mercy from the prissy girl as she left him there, her face red when she noticed the blue-haired basketball player.

Only, the athletes decided to do something more humiliating than merely making fun of his outfit. No, instead they did something far far worse...

They posted pictures of him on the internet.

Now Guts was not one to ever really pay attention to what others say about him, a trait he picked up over the years. However, he did know to pay attention when the things said are clearly going to _bite him in the ass later_. And having your two 'friends' cover their Facebook walls and Twitter pages with pictures of you in a set of armor is nothing short of dehumanizing and inconvenient. He could just smell another incident like the first time he entered Junes coming from a mile away.

"Dude, that junk actually looks pretty cool," Kou said as he inspected the gear Guts wore. "I've always been a sucker for medieval stuff."

"What's with the sword, though?" Daisuke asked tersely, scanning the blade that towered over all three. "How can you even carry that thing?"

"Don't know." Guts turned his head, looking at the handle of the sword Daidara had given him. There was more than question floating in his mind about the old man, but he knew better than to ask just then. He didn't want to risk pissing him off and have him take the stuff back. "It's heavy as hell, don't get me wrong. But I can pick it up just fine."

Guts felt a buzz in the pocket of his trousers, his phone telling him he got another message from Yosuke. His distractions did not go unnoticed by the two he promised to meet at Junes. The entire time he was forced to follow Ebihara, his phone practically exploded with questions about where he was and if he was going to be late. Though more than once he got a message from Chie asking is he was alright, some sounding as if she was panicking.

"_Hell is all that about?_"

Another buzz shook him back to reality, where Daisuke and Kou were actually waving goodbye as they left.

"_Is... is this for real?_"

Not risking the chance, he practically sprinted to Junes, the sound of his armor grinding deafening him to all else.

* * *

"Ugh... Where is he!?" Yosuke asked to no one, him and Chie sitting at their regular spots in the Junes food-court. Yosuke was tapping his foot impatiently while Chie scarfed down her third steak bowl.

"Guess he's not coming," Chie said after finishing her meal in record time. She was starting to get impatient herself, she was excited to start her new training regime! Even more so since she knew that Yukiko would be joining them when she got better.

"Yeah, guess not," Yosuke shrugged his shoulders, accepting the strange truth. He seemed so excited when he offered the idea...

"Well what do ya wanna do, _leader_?" Chie asked teasingly, knowing the title got under Yosuke's skin.

"I told you not to call me that!" Yosuke snapped back, showing his annoyance clearly. Why did he have to be nominated for the position...? He was an idea man! Not an executive! "But I do think we should go ahead without him. He's got all those weapons and can use them in battle. We have to rely on our Personas, so we need to strengthen them as much as we can."

"Alrighty then!" Chie hopped up from her seat, pumping a fist in the air.

* * *

The sounds of the Junes Electronics Department grew closer as Guts he rushed through the store as fast as he could without raising suspicion... which may have already been a lost cause. He had received a message from Yosuke, telling him that they were going into the TV without him and to try to meet them there if he could.

"_You idiots! You're gonna get yourselves... killed..._"

Yet again, the empty silence in his head hit him like a brick wall. Where was Puck? He heard him the day before, but he was missing for the second time. Where was he going? Where _could _he go?

The television they had used to enter the world came into his view, clearing his mind of all other thoughts.

"_This is gonna be fun..._"

* * *

"Tomoe!" Chie summoned her Persona, the warrior spirit floating next to her as it fired large chunks of ice at the familiar Shadows within the Shadow Yukiko's castle. The décor was once again splashed in black sludge as the hordes of corrupted knights were torn to pieces by the teens' Personas.

Tomoe split the creatures apart with her naginata while Jiraiya, Yosuke's Persona, was seeing how many ways he could see a Shadow be split in two by his shurikens.

"Wow! You guys are awesome!" Teddie did his thing and merely sat on the sidelines, watching the battle unfold before him. When they arrived, he did his normal routine of greeting them and taking them to the place they had found before, minus mentioning his growing existential crisis based around his own origins and identity. But it wasn't like that was important in any way.

"Hell yeah!" Chie cheered as Tomoe cleared the hall of Shadows. The clanking and groaning of the broken metal was giving her a headache, but she ignored it as best she could.

"Oh man!" Yosuke called out excitedly. "I'm having the time of my life!" Yosuke could not deny how badass their training session was making him feel. He woke up that morning a normal high school student in a small town, now he was fighting off hordes of repressed thoughts with a magical demon-thing!

More Shadows flowed into the hall, completely surrounding the three. Chie and Yosuke looked like children on Christmas morning while Teddie looked more like a spider with a newspaper coming towards it at a very high speed. Needless to say, he was glad he had no insides, or he would have soiled his suit.

"You ready, Chie?"

Yosuke and Chie were back to back, Shadows pushing closer and closer. It was there that they realized that they bit off way more than they could chew. The clanking grew louder and louder as more and more shadows poured in. It started off as a trickle, one or two at most in a single floor. But now it was an entire waterfall as every time they killed one Shadow, fifty more took its place. The stench of the black ooze was making them light-headed as it grew stronger, smelling like a rotting animal in an old dumpster.

"... Chie?" Yosuke asked worriedly, noticing the lack of a response from his Kung-Fu enthusiast friend.

"Yosuke..." Chie said distantly, almost as if she barely knew he was there. "You should look over here...!"

"Yeah, I know! A lot of Shadows on my side too." Yosuke began to feel a heavy weight press against him, physically held down by the hopelessness of their situation. The damned clanking wasn't helping either!

"No! I mean look over here!" Chie grabbed Yosuke's shoulder, yanking hard.

All that Yosuke saw was a Shadow flying through the air, torn in two. Ooze rained down on the Persona users and even Teddie. They all heard a smash, like a wrecking ball hit the ground, and saw more Shadows fly through the air, all torn apart like they were hit by a cannon.

"Wh-What the hell was that!?" Yosuke covered his head with his arms, shielding himself from the bits of metal and goo that rained down on the three.

"Sensei!" Teddie called out excitedly, a bright smile on his face, though it was stained by the gallons of fluid the Shadows poured on him.

"Guts!?" Chie was the only one that got a clear look at the cause of the mutilation spree, seeing his cloak flowing in the air as he twisted his body, swinging something very large and very heavy.

He looked more like a silhouette than a person, completely painted black by the slime the Shadows sprayed all over him as he revealed their insides to the world. His grunts sounded more and more animalistic as he slid from one Shadow to the next, each one either flying through the air with less limbs than it started with, or with a hole caved in its armor as he swung his metal arm with just as much force as he did his sword.

"Wow, Sensei!" Teddie hopped in place, only getting inches off the ground as he clapped his paws together. "Keep going!"

"_**That's right... Go ahead. Just let loose and swing that big thing around.**_"

Guts shook his head as he brought his sword down on an unfortunate Shadow, splitting the creature in two and spilling more slime.

"_Now isn't the time to think. Just keep swinging your sword._"

And he did just that. As more Shadows came for him, he sent their comrades flying towards them in pieces. His sheet of iron that he called a 'sword' cut through five or six at a time, his eardrums almost exploding from the sound of the blade tearing through their armor.

And through all of this, a single thought played through his mind.

"_Just need to be the last man standing..._"

* * *

_Igor sat with Marie and Margaret in the Velvet Room. He lacked his trademark smile, and why not? He was not in a particularly good mood. He was going to have to admit he was wrong._

"_Why am I here again, old man?" Guts demanded to know, interrupted from his training session with his friends for whatever reason they drug him there for._

"_I apologize for the inconvenience, dear guest," Igor began coldly, "but I must warn you now of what your destiny has just revealed to me."_

"_Let me guess, weird dog thing tries to take me over and make me go nuts?" Guts figured that out days ago! Why did he have to know about that no-?_

"_You are going to die." Margaret stared blankly ahead, avoiding any eye contact with Guts._

"_What!?" Guts and Marie shouted in surprise, one more fearful and the other enraged._

"_You're fortune reveals a grave calamity that requires a sacrifice of untold proportions to overcome," Igor explained. "That sacrifice involves your very life as an offering to restore balance." He saw the anger practically boiling within Guts. "I am truly sorry. I did not know your destiny-"_

"_Fuck destiny!" Guts barked out angrily. _

"_It is understandable that you are angry." Margaret sipped from her wineglass. "But the mark on your neck has already deemed you as the sacrifice to restore order and bring prosperity. It is your destiny."_

_"Destiny...destiny...destiny...destiny...__**SHUT THE HELL UP!**__ How 'bout you save your high and mighty crap for after I've been haunted to death, skullface? Sacrifice? Offering? Destiny? Quit spoutin' out a bunch of cryptic explanations! The point is, this is war! It ain't different from any other war! The last one standing wins! Listen here! I'm beatin' all a' you back down to Hell! Tell those ugly pale-faced bastards for me! If I get hit, I will hit back! Tell 'em leavin' me half-eaten is gonna be the end of you! I'll hunt and kill all those wretched monsters...and all of you...DOWN TO THE LAST ONE! THIS IS...__**MY DECLARATION OF WAR!**_" _Guts screamed out, rejecting all that he was hearing._

"_It does not matter..." Igor said hopelessly. "Your fate has already been planned out. You are merely a passenger on this journey."_

* * *

"_Fuck that old man! That blue one too! Destiny's nothing but a bunch of bullshit! I'm gonna live, no matter what!_"

More Shadows exploded through the doors as Guts kept his sword swinging into at least three of them at a time.

"Hey," Chie said to Yosuke, "is it just me, or does Guts look pissed?"

"Yeah, he's got this look in his eye." He noticed how it seemed to go completely blank, leaving it glowing compared to the rest of his body, still a deep inky black.

"Guys," Teddie looked around seeing the hall almost completely cleared of Shadows, "why aren't any Shadows coming for us?"

"Huh?" Yosuke turned around to see that the bear was right. Not a single Shadow came for them, all going towards the one swinging a sword the size of a minivan.

A wild war cry shook the three as Guts fired the cannon in his arm, the explosion rattling the whole castle and leaving giblets where whole bodies once stood.

"Dear god!" Chie hid behind Tomoe as the weapon fired, scaring all three behind the Personas.

On the up side, the hallway was finally cleared. Meat and slime spilled across the walls and floor... or from Guts himself. His breathing sounded ragged, like every breath was getting harder to force into his lungs. His arms felt like they were about to fall off, every muscle in them feeling like they were on fire. He had to rest against his sword, the blade dug deep into the ground as he pressed against the handle. Though he felt like he was about to croak right there, he couldn't keep a vicious smirk from growing on his face.

"How's that... for destiny...?" Guts started to laugh as the thought played through his head once again.

"_Just gotta be the last man standing._"

And he could be. He was strong. He just proved how much they could hit him, and how much he'd throw back!

"Uuuh... dude?" Yosuke carefully walked up to Guts, trying not to slip on any Shadow entrails. "You... okay?"

"Okay?" Guts repeated breathlessly. "Oh, I'm better than okay. I've never been so fucking _happy_." His smirk became more sinister as he pressed against the sword.

"Well... guess training's over for today!" Yosuke tried to laugh off the situation, though it only made his bladder weaker.

"R-Right!" Chie said just as fearfully. She was not prepared to see her friend go complete ax-murder-psycho. She and Yosuke made their way to the stairs, Teddie practically skipping behind them, oblivious to the mental state of his 'sensei'.

"_I can win! Destiny can go straight to Hell! I'll live, no matter what!_"

With that, he pulled his sword from the floor and chained it to the back of his armor once more.

* * *

Guts entered the Dojima household, his armor clanking around as he entered the small home. He had not expected anyone to be home by that point, rather Dojima to be working and Nanako to already be asleep by then. Luckily, it wasn't Dojima that saw him.

"Guts, why are you wearing all that stuff?" Nanako asked from her spot in the living room. She scanned over her cousin, seeing his armor and weapons in full view. Being so young, she couldn't comprehend why anyone would be wear or even have the multitude of gear that Guts had with him.

"Job at Junes." Yosuke made the excuse, now Guts was gonna use it himself.

"Wow!" Nanako was blinded from her confusion with pure excitement. "You work at Junes now?"

"Yep." With that Guts made his way up to his room, ready to sleep off the events of the day.

All in all, it was a good day for him.

"_**Hey, Guts!**_"

Shit.

* * *

A/N

You know the drill. I'm Plague and this is my story yada yada. Anyways! I decided to show off another change from the original Persona canon and add in a bit of the Berserk! As in, Guts is basically destined to be dead. He is supposed to die and he is just constantly fighting that. Persona is chock full of destiny and fate stuff, so it's kind of a perfect fit in a way. Also, I included **two **word for word quotes in this chapter. One is from Berserk, and the other from my favorite underrated game Splatter House. And I know I skipped over the dream before Sunday. I just couldn't think of anything, and it isn't really necessary at this point. Guts is used to the freaky shit, and it's mainly so he and Dojima can bond over talking about them. He's not really involved at this point of the game... so...

A-Anyway! I finally wrote a battle sequence with the DRAGON SLAYER! All that teasing worth it...? No...? Well... _shut up_.

Seriously though, leave a review if you enjoyed this story. I really need the feedback so I don't get paranoid and change shit because I think it's broken.


	11. Pretty Woman: The Girl With That Hat

_Screams..._

_That's all he could hear. _

_Nothing but screams. _

_Loud, piercing, and never ending. _

_He couldn't see two inches in front of him, everything enshrouded in black. But his other senses worked just fine._

_He could hear the screams._

_He could smell the rotting meat as it burned._

_He could feel the claws of the damned, desperately clinging to him to somehow escape the anguish._

_But none of this mattered to him. All that mattered was the scream that overshadowed all the others. The loud, agonized wail that caused him so much rage to hear. He did not even realize he was running until he felt a burning build up in his legs, obviously from sprinting far too much. _

_Then... The wail stopped. And the last thing he heard was from a monstrous voice._

"_You'll never escape from destiny, boy! You'll never escape Hell!"_

* * *

It had been a while since a dream had truly horrified him. The others simply causing embarrassment to think about or a desire to punch himself in the head to stop his imagination in its tracks. But the things he experienced had once again shaken him to his core.

Mainly, the last thing he heard. Was he truly meant to be in Hell?

"_Course not! I ain't done nothin'._"

Despite his mental reassurance, he could not help but feel utterly alone as he was in his familiar spot in the kitchen. The solitude seemed to insult him as he drank from his mug, this time full of water. He felt dehydrated when he woke up, his mouth practically made of sand.

"_This 'destiny' shit is driving me up a wall._"

Was that whatever was on his neck was? He couldn't see it, but he could definitely feel it. It always felt like a fresh cut, constantly stinging and leaking blood. Not comparable to the amount when Shadows are near, but enough to ruin more than one white shirt.

He felt his cellphone buzz, making him wonder who could possibly be awake at that hour. The clock read four in the morning.

"_I only got four hours of sleep._"

At that rate he could simply stop sleeping in general by the end of the month.

"_**Guts, are you okay?**_" The long-forgotten voice of Puck rang in his ear.

"_I'm fine. Just thinkin'._"

"_**About what Igor and Margaret told you?**_" Puck asked worriedly.

"_How do you know...? Right. You can read my mind._"

"_**Well?**_"

"_I think that they're both full of shit._" Guts bitterly answered. "_I ain't gonna die anytime soon. Not unless you cut off my head or pierce my heart. Even then, you gotta do it before I get my hands on you._"

"_**That's not what I mean.**_"

"_What are you talkin' about?_"

"_**When they told you that you had to make a sacrifice.**_"

"_I already said my piece about that._"

"_**I scanned through your head a bit. Kinda empty, but that's besides the point.**_"

"_Get to the point, Tinkerbell._"

"_**Look... **__**I know why you're so adamant about all this...**_"

* * *

"_Man... This is gonna be so awkward!_"

Yosuke gripped his phone tightly, trying to muster up the courage to call up his friend. He managed to hit the number on his contact list, mentally saying goodbye to theoretical children that were never going to be born thanks to the consequences of the call.

"_There goes the Hanamura-Junes dynasty! Haha..._" His pitiful mental laughs only made the situation worse.

"~_Hello?~_" The familiar voice of Chie answered his call.

"H-Hey Chie!" Yosuke looked to his desk, where the item that was sure to cause his castration at the hands of the one-armed, psychopathic friend they had laid. It was a tiny, pink, bunny cellphone strap. The quality of the strap made the brown-haired teen go pale as he picked it up from the ground... after it fell out of the pocket of Guts during their excursion in the television.

"_Th-There's no way _he _made that right? No, of course not. But how did he get it?_"

"~_Oh, hey Yosuke. What's up?_~"

"Uh... Did you see Guts with a girl lately? Anyone that could have given him a gift?" He already felt like breaking his own foot off in his ass.

"~_I don't think so... He hasn't exactly been popular lately._~"

"Yeah..." Yosuke remembered back to the day they first entered the television. Everything was so chaotic that day. The assembly, the mob, the bear, the Shadow. It felt like a week had happened in its place.

"~_But._~" Chie said reluctantly. "_~He does have a growing fanbase..._~"

"Are you serious?" Yosuke was unsure if it was a joke or not.

"~_When he got all weird and was super nice to people, a bunch of the girls started posting letters in his locker.~_"

"Really...?" Yosuke deadpanned. "One day and girls are already falling over for him?"

"~_To be fair, there were actually a few before then._~" Yosuke could practically hear her shrug over the phone.

"Back when they thought he killed people!?" He all but shrieked.

"~_Some girls like badboys.~_"

"That's a bit more than bad!"

"~_What are you yelling at me for!?~_" Chie snipped back. "_~Don't shoot the messenger!~"_

By that point, any hope of gaining answers for his question was abandoned. The conversation devolved into bickering between the two.

* * *

Guts walked down the street towards his school, interrogating Puck over the events of the day before. The small pixie in his head had said a key phrase that peaked Guts' professional curiosity and caused him to inquire about such.

"_WHAT DO YA MEAN, 'HOW YOU HELPED ME YESTERDAY'!?_"

You could also say that he was screaming at the poor creature in blind anger, both work.

"_**H-He said that I had to take control if you didn't try to fix things yourself!**_"

"_SO YOU POSSESSED ME, YOU FUCKING FLY!?_"

"_**I-I didn't have a choice!**_" Puck tried to defend himself, his fear showing its way in his tone. "_**He said that you were letting the Hound win, and that I had to take drastic measures when necessary.**_"

"_Who told you that horseshit!?_"

"_**Th-The guy on the horse!**_" Puck cried out desperately, stunning Guts. "_**He said that you're letting the Hound win, and that I should take matters into my hands if it gets too bad!**_"

"_YOU PIECE OF SHI-_"

"Yoo hoo~!" A familiar voice sang out. "Guts~! It's your girlfriend~!"

Ebihara skipped her way to the large male, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing close against him.

"_Shit! Now she's here!?_"

He looked to the prima donna rubbing herself against him. It took a quick eye to see, but he could tell that she was glaring at any other female student walking past them.

"You gonna let go of me?" He said cruelly to Ebihara.

"Nope!" She took it more as teasing though. "I don't want to be anywhere but here!"

"Fuck my life..." Once again, Guts regretted not pushing her off the roof himself.

* * *

"So wait, you're telling me that Guts had that with him?" Chie asked in disbelief, staring at the cellphone strap that Yosuke was dangling in front of her eyes.

"Yes!" Yosuke said, annoyed at having to repeatedly answer her. "It fell out of his pocket when we were in the TV World yesterday."

"You mean when he went full psycho and killed all those Shadows?"

"Y-Yeah..." He wasn't going to deny how afraid he felt when he saw how schizophrenic and chaotic Guts was when he fought the day before. It all looked like he was on auto-pilot and just swinging his sword around in a frenzy.

"And you're telling me this instead of doing the smart thing and forgetting you ever saw that?" Chie could not keep her eyes off the small omen of their inevitable deaths. It was too well-made to be left with all those Shadows... but there was no way Guts would be okay with them knowing he had that on him.

"I already said goodbye to any chance I'll have children." Yosuke rubbed the back of his neck. "I barely recovered from the first time he used that hunk of metal on me..."

"You know what?" Chie began defiantly. "Why are we so afraid of that guy? We're supposed to be his friends! His companions! Not his minions! Why should he care if we think he's gay or not-?"

"Whoa!" Yosuke stumbled as he walked the minute the word 'gay' was uttered. "Where did _that_ come from!?"

"W-Well... think about it!" Chie mumbled out. "He doesn't seem interested in any of the girls here, or girls in general. He had that thing with him. He has Puck as a Persona."

"What does Tinkerbell have to do with him being into dudes?" Yosuke face palmed at what he was hearing.

"Personas are basically Shadows under control," Chie explained. "Shadows are suppressed thoughts that we don't want to admit to. So what was Guts' Shadow?"

"Well...!" Yosuke tried to think of any way to retort what the girl in green was saying. "M-Maybe he faced it when we weren't there!"

Chie merely crossed her arms across her chest.

"O-Or...! Ah, to hell with it!" Yosuke had to admit defeat. The circumstances regarding how Guts got Puck were too cloudy to have a good answer. He just seemed to get him out of nowhere!

"So... Guts might be gay..." Chie muttered out as they continued to school.

"Yep." Yosuke chirped back.

* * *

"Oh, this is so great!" Ebihara practically sang out as she and Guts walked down the Shopping District. She had managed to talk him into skipping school with her and going to Okina City once again. "We are gonna have the _best time_!"

"_Just fucking shoot me... I mean it._"

"_**You have the cannon, remember?**_"

"_Gunpowder's back home..._"

Right as Ebihara and Guts made their way to the bus stop, a strange thing had occurred.

"Hey, I'm going with you." A very to-the-point girl said.

"Marie?" Guts turned to see the Velvet Room resident, wearing her usual outfit, waiting alongside the two.

"_Excuse me_..." Ebihara hissed out. "We are going to Okina City for a _date_. _No third wheels!_" She could not keep herself from trying to stare down the younger girl.

"I'm not a wheel," Marie said, unsure of what the other was talking about. "And I know him." She pointed to Guts, who wanted to tell them both to fuck themselves and be anywhere but there.

"What do you mean '_you know him'_!?" Ebihara barked accusingly. "He's mine! Hands off, missy!"

"I'm not even touching him." Marie said with a smirk, as if she had shot a hole straight through her argument.

"Both of you, shut the hell up!" Guts was getting a migraine, one that could only be cured by killing a lot of things. "Since I don't really have choice, seeing that you'll throw yourself in front of the bus if I tell you to piss off, we'll go." He turned his gaze away from the gloating prima donna, who took the opportunity to stick her tongue at Marie.

"You're comin' with us."

"What!?" Ebihara shrieked out in anger.

"I don't want her wanderin' around here by herself." Guts gave Marie a knowing glare. "She'll probably get herself killed trying to talk to a car or somethin'."

"Not my fault they go so fast." Marie pouted.

"Whatever. We're going."

Guts was getting tired of being jerked around on a leash. From people telling him to do stuff, to the ones in the car saying he's gonna die. They were all pissing him off.

* * *

"Come on! Let's go to the photobooth!" Ebihara pulled on Guts' arm, leading him to the cheap booth, the camera flashing every few seconds as other couples flowed in and out.

"Fine." Guts didn't have time to argue. He was busy making sure that Marie wasn't running off anywhere and getting into trouble... which was what she was doing since they got on the bus.

It all began when she argued with the driver about having to pay for bus tokens. Then it escalated to her asking why the seats were so uncomfortable compared to the car she was used to. _Then _she kept pestering passengers and driving everyone on the vehicle crazy. She made a child cry, a man contemplate divorcing his wife, a pregnant woman pulling out a gun and threatening to shoot her, and Guts punch said woman and knocked her unconscious.

"_Why am I even entertaining these two? I got better shit to do than play babysitter._"

The two walked into the booth, one not even paying attention and still keeping an eye on the girl wearing her blue hat, who was entranced by one of the televisions a nearby electronics store had on display.

"Let's do a couple of kiss pictures!" Ebihara squealed out.

"_Fuck! Just let me kill something!_"

* * *

"You still can't get a hold of him?" Chie asked Yosuke, the two sitting in class during their lunch.

"Nope," Yosuke shut his phone and returned it to his pocket. "Straight to voice mail every time."

"I'm gonna take a shot and say his voice mail is-"

"The default announcer," Yosuke finished for her. The complete lack of personalization of anything he owned shocked the two. Like he never cared enough to change something for his taste. In fact...

"What does that guy like anyway?" Chie could not help but think out loud.

"He likes killing Shadows, that's for sure." Yosuke held his head up with his hand, his elbow placed on the desk.

"Anything, you know, _normal_?" Chie had emphasize the need for a hobby that fit societal standards.

"I don't even think he knows anything else," Yosuke shrugged. "That's the thing he's really good at."

"Can't exactly make a career out of that though," Chie thought for few moments. "I mean, we got plans for the future and all. But what about him?"

"Why are you worried about him?" Yosuke asked, annoyed. "Why do we keep talking about him anyway!?"

"I dunno," Chie said innocently. "Guess because we don't have anything else to talk about. And because he's the black sheep. Those are always interesting."

"So you're saying that you just want to gossip about our friend?" Yosuke deadpanned.

"N-No!" Chie hopped from her desk. The silence that followed only made it worse. "Sh-Shut up! Don't we need to go over the case notes anyway?"

"I'm taking that as a 'yes'..."

That was all Yosuke said before a swift, and strategically brilliant, kick to his groin allowed for everyone in the room to hear an octave never thought attainable by a male.

* * *

Guts, Marie, and Ebihara sat in the courtyard of a familiar cafe. The queen bee sipped on her overly complicatedly named beverage, her face scrunching in disapproval.

"This doesn't have caramel on it like I asked for!" She whined, demonstrating a perfect example of 'First World Problems'.

"Nope," Guts said blankly, staring off into space with thought.

"You asked for it, but it wasn't there?" Marie asked, confused at the lack of the requested topping to her drink.

"No!" She spat cruelly at the younger girl, snapping her head to Guts immediately. "Tell me you're sorry!"

"Yep," he replied. She did not hear it, but he was actually in a very in depth conversation with a certain pixie about the rights it had to explore his head.

"_YOU CAN'T JUST STEAL A GUY'S BODY AND START LOOKING THROUGH HIS HEAD, YOU LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!_"

"_**I-It was only for a little bit! It's your fault for being so anti-social!**_"

"Guts!" Ebihara screeched.

"He can't hear you," Marie explained. "He's yelling at the pixie in his head."

Ebihara stared at the girl in confusion as Marie looked as though she was listening to something.

"Sorry. _Elf_," Marie said, sticking her tongue out at Guts.

And through this, Ebihara had her own thought flow through her own mind.

"_Dear sweet God, this was a terrible idea..._"

* * *

Guts and Marie walked down the street of the shopping district, Ebihara deciding to abandon the two and go directly to school after their little excursion. Thankfully, there was still a few hours left to make it back.

However, Guts had to make sure the small, black-haired girl made it to her... Door?

"That's right..." Guts said, staring blankly at the mystical entrance before him. "The thing's a fucking door."

Marie stepped up to it, stopping herself just in front of it. Her face showed that she was weighing multiple options in her mind about a situation the other did not know. After several moments of hesitation, she turned to Guts.

"You're gonna die," Marie said unsubtly. "That's what Margaret said, right?"

"That's what she said," Guts glared at the door as memories of that conversation flooded his brain. "That ain't gonna happen though."

"It will," Marie assured, sounding unknowingly cruel. "All humans die."

"I die when I _say_ I die!" Guts growled at her. He felt his body tense up as his anger built. He was tired of being dragged on a leash! By destiny, by everyone around him! He wasn't going down without a fight, and he knew how to fight pretty fucking well!

"That's what all the other yous said," Marie said as she stepped through the door of the Velvet Room.

"What!?" That was all he could ask before she was gone, leaving him in the middle of the street, talking to an alley way.

"_Other mes...? What the hell does that mean?_"

"Hey, kid!" Guts heard a voice call from behind him. He turned to see a police officer walking up to him. His next statement was very direct and to the point.

"Ain't you supposed to be in school?"

* * *

The basketball team was having a rough day...

Half the players didn't show up... _again..._

Half of the court was being used by the band for practice as they had some event coming up.

Their air tanks to refill the balls were busted and some were already deflating.

It was not a good series of events to put into one day... Especially after what his family told him that morning.

Kou chatted with Daisuke in the locker room, both changing into their normal clothes as practice ended. Though, it was more accurate to say Kou changed as Daisuke kept his usual uniform on.

"Seriously, dude," Kou said. "That thing must reek."

"I wash it," Daisuke argued back. "Just not... regularly."

"Gross!" Kou jumped back at the revelation about his friend's cleaning habit. No wonder the gym always smelled of rotting fish when he helped out at practice.

"Hey, did you see Guts at all today?" Daisuke asked, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Not today, no," Kou admitted shamefully. He couldn't even get a guy without an eye or an arm to stay on the team! No wonder everyone bailed...

"Yeah," Daisuke chuckled, "must've been off with Ebihara."

"What does that mean?" Kou asked, clueless of the implication.

"You been paying attention lately?" Daisuke scratched the bandage on his nose. "The two are going out now."

"Whoa, seriously!?" Kou fell back against the lockers at the revelation. "Guts? As in, _Guts_ Guts?"

"Yep."

"Guy who always looks like he's got PTSD or something?"

"One and the same."

The two went dead silent, the reveal making Kou's heart skip a beat. He wasn't jealous or anything, but more legitimately surprised. Guts never seemed like the kinda guy who went after the crazy ones... or women in general. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't see him with any of the girls at their school. A cripple who had a penchant of hurting people when he felt like it? Not exactly prime dating material...

"_My goose eggs are still bruised..._"

Though... he had only one response to the debacle.

"Nice."

Utter respect.

* * *

Guts entered the Dojima home with slight hesitance.

It had turned out that he did not have a few hours to make it back to school from his ordeal. He had practically missed the entire day and had barely a few minutes left. That meant one thing...

"_How the hell am I gonna explain this...?_"

He knew what was coming. His uncle was going to chew him out for missing school and drill into him the importance of studying and education, the basic bullshit.

Now Guts was not an idiot, quite frankly he was quite the opposite. Teachers from every grade he was in praised his intellect, but scolded his behavior. He was practically a genius, but he never cared enough about school to use it. High school was different, mainly so his parents would get off his back and leave him in peace. He knew how to act respectful and resist the urge to cave in the chest cavity of an annoying instructor that treated him like a moron.

"_But in the other world...! I can let myself go free._"

The thoughts once again flowed like water into his mind.

"_I can do the one thing I'm good at. No tests; no masking my urge to tear some annoying shit to pieces; no having to sit and take abuse from some fucker sitting behind a title; it's practically free from restraint. No rules._"

More and more he found himself praising the other world as a haven. It seemed much better to him by the day. It became more and more enticing with every mental reference.

"Guts?" Nanako asked from her spot at the table.

"Yeah, it's me," he replied back.

"It's gonna rain soon," she parroted from the television, currently showing the weather forecast.

"Thanks for the heads up." It was then that Guts realized that he was still standing in the entrance of the house. The empty silence of the home, disregarding the television and the girl watching it, consumed the atmosphere around him.

"_Dojima's still not home?_"

That was more nights in a row than comfortable. The station must've been desperate for anyone that could help with the cases.

The cases...

The reason he even entered the television in the first place finally plowed its way back to the forefront of his consciousness. It had been so long since he had even considered who the killer was or what their motives were. All he was focused on was the shit happening to him day-to-day. He forgot all about the reason people didn't exactly have a fanclub about him.

"_Still got a psycho running around and apparently I'm a dead man... This has not been the best trip for me..._"

"_**~Now for our special report! A young gang of bikers has been making trouble for the small town of Inaba.~**_"

* * *

It was just after school, in the gymnasium locker room. Guts had finally gotten away from Ebihara, who had been following him the entire day and practically attacking anything remotely feminine that looked at him, and just finished the day's practice session with the basketball team.

Basketball practice was actually fairly entertaining for Guts as he trained with the other members. He did have a problem of injuring the others, but after he took off his metal hand, that ended relatively quickly as he had nothing to hit them with. Dribbling was not too much of an issue as he simply used his right hand, but shooting was proving to be a problem, along with passing.

"_Need two hands for that shit..._"

Guts changed back into his uniform in the locker room as practice ended. The other members were chanting excitedly over how good they've gotten and how they were guaranteed to reach the championship. However, one member looked nowhere near as happy. If anything, he seemed downright devastated, small tears dripping from his that were only visible from the right angle.

It was Kou who was crying. No audible sobs could be heard, but there was a slight shake that happened every few moments or so if you paid attention.

"_Hell's wrong with 'im?_"

"_**Don't know. But I can sense something is definitely wrong.**_"

Kou started to break down, becoming louder as he fell apart while being unknowingly watched. He pressed his head against the locker as tears rained down from his cheeks. The sight was almost disgusting for Guts to watch.

"_God. Grow a pair or something._"

"_**Don't tell me that!**_"

"Hey," Guts called to Kou. "Fuck's wrong with you?"

Kou snapped his head towards Guts, shocked that he had an audience the whole time. His eyes were red and still wet with tears. He tried to wipe away a few before speaking, sniffling the whole time.

"O-Oh, it's nothing," Kou said as he sat down on the bench in the locker room.

"Bullshit," Guts retorted as he laid back against the locker, feeling the cold metal against his flesh.

"I'm fine, man." Kou looked away, hopelessness burying deeper into him. "Just a bit tired."

"Tired doesn't mean you cry like a little bitch," Guts snapped. "The hell's the matter with you?"

"Fine!" Kou could no longer hold it in. He felt a ball of bile that threatened to creep up his throat as he muttered the words he never wanted to think about. "I'm quitting the basketball team..."

Guts stood silent for a moment, taking in what he heard. The guy who practically worshiped the sport was leaving? That didn't make any form of sense! The program wasn't being shut down, so it wasn't like he didn't have a choice.

"Why're you doing that?" Curiosity overtook Guts' rational thought. He didn't want to get involved! It wasn't his business to see what the hell was going on with the guy.

"My family's pretty up there in the corporate world..." Kou began bitterly, every word filled with venom. "They want me to focus on taking over when I'm old enough. Besides, my grandmother can't stand the sport. Calls it 'barbaric'. And she pretty much runs the family."

"So?" Guts shrugged.

"So... what?" Kou got up from the bench, finally having the willpower to be on his feet.

"Why do they matter?" Guts scratched his face as he gave a tired stare.

"Dude! It's my family...!" Kou tried to sound adamant, but he could not deny that he had thought the same thing multiple times. "I-I don't have a choice."

"Yeah, you do." Guts pushed himself from the locker, giving an angered sneer at Kou. "You control _your _life. Anybody that says otherwise gets nothin' else but a fist in the gut!"

"Doesn't matter for me..." Kou waved off the 'advice' given. "Tonight's game is my last one..."

With that, Kou left the locker room with melancholy strangling the life out of him. Every step was visually harder to take, each one slower and shorter than the last.

Once he was gone, Guts heard a familiar voice in his head.

"_**Why did you do that?**_"

"_What'd you mean?_"

"_**You were deadset on letting him just stand there and bawl his eyes out. Then you just made a complete 180 and acted like some kind of life guru.**_"

"_I don't know what you're talking about. He was whining, and it pissed me off._"

"_**Guts.**_"

"_Nothing else._"

"_**'You control **_**your**_** life'?**_"

"_I'm done talking with you._"

* * *

Chie and Yosuke sat in their classroom, going over some notes about the cases. No ground breaking theories were made, it mainly just being a review of what they knew.

"So Mayumi Yamano was the first victim..." Yosuke said, more muttering to himself than anything. He had written the names of the three victims in his notebook, trying to piece together some form of evidence with it somehow. He occasionally glanced over at Chie, who looked like she was wrapped up in her own little world. One that frustrated her, as she looked to have been pouting over something.

"Chie," Yosuke vocalized, "you listeni-."

"I just don't get it!" Chie interrupted suddenly, slamming her fist on her desk.

"Yeah, I know," Yosuke said, frustrated at the lack of answers he had. "It's like the guy just picks out random people! Nothing here is jumping out at me for a possible pattern..."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" the spunky girl in green yelled at her friend.

"Wait... Were you even thinking about the cases!?" Yosuke felt like so much time was just wasted...

"Of course not!" Chie was sure that Yosuke was a some strange fish-like being that had no idea how to tell when other creatures were thinking about something else entirely. "I'm thinking about how Ebihara has gone all crazy, more so than usual!"

"What are you talking about...?" Yosuke knew about that girl. Some Barbie-doll wannabe that was a total ice-queen to anyone that wasn't chiseled by the gods themselves. What could she have possibly done that made Chie that unfocused on anything else?

"I'm talking about how she's gotten all obsessive over Guts...!" Chie grit her teeth. She saw the overly-muscled man walking down the halls earlier that day. She had planned to talk to him about helping her and Yosuke with the case notes... and a _little bit _ of homework. However, Ebihara swooped in out of nowhere and stuck to him like a leech. She walked so close together you would think that they would trip over their own feet. Her voice flooded the halls as she kept chatting with the male, though it was heavily a one-sided conversation as Guts looked like he simply wanted to tear her apart.

"Wait, what?" Yosuke could not believe he had just heard. Why was one of the most popular girls in their school getting all buddy-buddy with the same guy that had an angry mob go after him the third day he was there?

"Yeah!" Chie hopped to her feet, feeling anger enter her system. "And when a girl bumped into them, she said 'Back off, he's mine!'"

"What the hell does that supposed to mean?" Yosuke went wide-eyed. There was no way that... "Ar-Are they... _dating_?"

"Oh, they better not be!" Chie grew a sneer that to Yosuke looked pretty familiar. In fact, he was sure that he had seen it somewhere before...

"Man, Chie," Yosuke had finally pinpointed where he had seen that look before, "you actually kinda look kinda like him with that face!" He had let loose a few laughs before a thought occurred to him.

"Wait..." Yosuke juggled bringing up what had just went through his head. His groin was guaranteed to get a beating from his next words. "Why are _you_ so pissed off?"

"Because they're nothing alike!" Chie threw her arms up. "All she does is crawl all over him and parades him around like a trophy! It's plain as day that he can't stand her."

"Whoa!" Yosuke unknowingly said. "Chie, do you have the hots for him!?"

"What the hell are you talking abou-!?"

"Nope!" Yosuke had a goofy grin on his face as he shot from his desk. He grabbed her hand and practically dragged her from the classroom. "Say no more! I know how to fix all of this!"

If they had stayed a few seconds longer, they would have heard a student say to his friend,

"Dude, did you hear about what that biker gang did?"

* * *

"Hey, Ichijo!" Chie called out her friend, interrupting their last minute practice.

"O-Oh! H-Hey, Chie!" Kou felt a blush burn on his face as he stared at the brunette that had gained his affection.

"Hey, Kou," Yosuke said simply, waving a hand. His plan was coming together, slowly, but surely.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kou asked as he approached the two.

"Well, you see," Yosuke began, "Chie here wants to help be your team's manager!"

"What?" Chie pondered what was going through the idiot's mind, but decided that it didn't matter. Trying to use logic on illogic is just bound to give you a headache... and a desire to hit illogic very _very _ hard in the genitals with steel-toed shoes.

"R-Really!? That'd be awesome!" Kou couldn't keep the excitement off of his face, nor the red.

However, Chie saw someone that was less than excited to see her.

Ebihara glared from the bleachers, her arms crossed and her made-up face contorted into a frown.

"I think someone's giving me the stink eye..." Chie deadpanned.

"So how about she help out for tonight's game?" Yosuke clearly did not hear the confirmation that she was not welcome there.

"Th-That'd be great!" Kou, on the other hand, seemed far more accepting.

Yosuke scanned the gymnasium and the gathering of teens that tried to pass themselves off as the basketball team, not seeing the reason he was practically throwing Chie into the deep end of the pool to begin with.

"Hey, Kou," Yosuke tore Kou's attention away from whatever mental paradise he was stuck in as his glossed over eyes were beginning to get rather creepy, "where's the big guy?"

"Oh, he left just a few minutes ago," Kou said, stretching his arms behind his head.

"Jeez," Chie let out a sigh, "we always miss the guy when we look for him..."

"What," Daisuke chirped in, approaching the trio, "he avoiding you guys?"

"No..." Yosuke said unsurely. "Gah! Why do we keep talking about him!?"

* * *

_The bar was filled with smoke so thick that the fog in the TV World seemed like thin mist in comparison. The clanks of glasses being shuffled around drowned out the bad karaoke that some poor drunken idiot decided to use. No one could tell if he was even singing anything by that point or was just flailing around and slurring. The thing that made Guts laugh was how a karaoke machine was in some shitty Irish pub. That was simply asking for some violent drunk to jack you in the jaw. _

"Irish always were weird._"_

_He thought of the trips to Ireland his parents went to when he was a kid. They always came home reeking of whiskey. Specifically that. _

_The nostalgia brought an interesting thought to his head, what nationality was he? Certainly not Japanese, wasn't even born there or by them. He narrowed it down to European. His dear old dead dad decided to bite it before he even named him, so he was a lost cause. That whole story of his name didn't help. _

"_Gattsu..." He whispered to himself. He hated it. "Gattsu Narukami..." _

_The words tightened his throat, almost making him gag. The name wasn't his. Sure, his dead dad's buddies took him in and named him... but the name wasn't his. _

_It was impossible to describe. It was like saying that red is called blue or that apples taste like oranges. It wasn't right._

"_Trouble, stranger?" The bartender asked. _

"_I'm fine." Guts assured him, staring into his empty glass._

"_You sound troubled, friend," the bartender coughed before continuing, "you sure you haven't got an issue?"_

"_Doesn't matter if I did," Guts looked up, staring at nothing but the wall, "I don't think anyone can help me now..."_

_The bar was dead silent as not a single soul beyond the black-haired giant occupied a single inch in the abandoned room. Cobwebs and dust covered old shamrock neon signs and pool tables. The bar itself had multiple spiders running across the surface, each one of their legs making the only noise in the place._

"_Born alone... lived alone... and I think I'm gonna die alone."_

_He did not know why he said that. It simply fell out of his mind, something he was getting used to. The thought felt heavy, practically freezing the air around him. _

_But the last thing he could hear was a woman's voice._

_She only said one word. One word that shook Guts to his bones._

"_Hospital."_

_He knew what he had to do._

* * *

Guts awoke in an unfamiliar place. It reeked of cleaning fluid and old vomit. He sat in an uncomfortable chair as a woman, dressed as a nurse, shook his shoulder.

"Where am I?" Guts asked as he found himself practically warped to this new area. He remembered falling asleep in the supply room after practice, just to get some energy in his system.

"She's ready to see you now," the nurse said, giving an uneasy smile. It was clear that she was hesitant to lead Guts to where ever 'she' was.

The room was a hospital waiting room, devoid of all other life beyond him and a few random individuals not worth mention.

"Who again?" Guts was getting a shock in his spine as he realized that he had traveled all the way to the local hospital and outright _requested to see a patient_ when he was technically sleep-walking.

"You don't remember?" the nurse noticed the tired body language of the crippled man. "You asked to see one of our mentally disabled patients. You said you were close to her."

"Okay," Guts said as he rose from the shitty chair, his spine practically screaming at him in anger. "Let's get going."

"Excellent," the nurse said, giving him a warmer smile. All things considered, she was quite pretty. A tad on the older side, looking to be in the later thirties, but that only showed if you really tried to look. She wore a pink blazer accompanying her uniform. She had a mole on the upper left side of her chin, acting as a beauty mark. She had a ponytail and deep brown eyes.

"Hey, what's your name?" Guts heard her ask, surprising him with her direct nature.

"It's Guts, you?"

"I'm Sayoko."

* * *

The walk to the room was so quick it was if it had never even happened. But there he stood, in front of the door he apparently requested to see.

"_May as well get some answers from who ever's in here._"

The sign on the door had a name that had caught his full attention, everything else becoming a thick blur of color and sound. Even the words of the nurse were nothing more than white noise as he read out the name.

"_**Casca Kujikawa**_"

* * *

_A/N_

Yes, after over a month, a new chapter has been released.

I was _busy, **busy,**_** BUSY** the whole time. And it looks like more may be on the horizon for poor little plague. ;-;

But what is that? Why does Casca have the same last name as Rise? I wonder what that could mean... Also, HOLY SHIT! CASCA IS INVOLVED!

And finally, I dropped Guts' 'real' name. But Gattsu is simply Guts said in Japanese. But that is the origin of his nickname in regards to this story. Because no parent is cool enough to actually name their kid Guts... and that it would be seriously fucked up to name your kid that if they found him in the innards of your dead friend's dead pregnant wife. O-o

But the next chapter will FINALLY be out of the sports shit and continues the plot. Trust me, it will be welcomed...

Until next time, this has been Plague. You stay classy Planet Earth.


End file.
